Following prolonged negotiations with many of the biggest companies in video games, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called for a video game performer and voice actor strike, beginning on July 26. Try as they might, the two sides have been unable to see eye to eye on the issue of AI.
“The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually," said SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland in a statement to Aftermath. "The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games. That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the AI use of their faces, voices, and bodies. Frankly, it’s stunning that these video game studios haven’t learned anything from the lessons of last year - that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to AI, and the public supports us in that."
Workers can now strike at ten companies: Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, EA, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take-Two, VoiceWorks, and WB Games.
The aforementioned companies released their own joint statement:
“We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations," the companies said via a spokesperson. "We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the [Interactive Media Agreement]. These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry.”
SAG-AFTRA membership first voted in favor of authorizing a strike in 2023, which the union’s national board followed last week by granting Crabtree-Ireland authority to call a strike if need be. This is the second video game voice actor strike, with the first lasting nearly a year between 2016 and 2017. As a result, actors received a pay raise, though residuals and matters pertaining to vocal stress – other central issues at the time – did not make it into the contract, prompting criticism from some actors.
At the beginning of this year, SAG-AFTRA again faced controversy when it struck a deal with a company called Replica, with the goal of making it easy for “professional voice over artists to safely explore new employment opportunities for their digital voice replicas with industry-leading protections tailored to AI technology” and “allowing AAA video game studios and other companies working with Replica to access top SAG-AFTRA talent.” This turned out to be a one-off deal with a single company rather than the broader Interactive Media Agreement over which SAG-AFTRA members had authorized a strike, but performers still felt blindsided by the decision.
Now workers are going to battle to secure their rights across the board.
“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation, said video game performer and SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh. "We refuse this paradigm – we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our interim and independent contracts, which provide AI transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve."
