An imminent strike? Failure to reach an agreement with game studios could result in video game actors and motion capture performers joining the picket lines.
The interactive media segment of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) voted to approve a strike in case present talks with publishers of video games fail to result in a desirable contract sought by the voice actors as well as performers involved in motion capture.
On Monday, SAG-AFTRA shared a report showing that despite 27% of qualified voters participating, more than 98% of the 34687 participants supported the strike.
Conversations between the video game officials of SAG-AFTRA and signatory game studios start today and carry on to Wednesday and Thursday.
Concerns Against AI Threats to Video Game Actors Likely to Compel Strike
News regarding a likely strike in the game industry sector comes a day following the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announcement about reaching a preliminary agreement with famous film and TV studios. The deal still needs approval by WGA West and East through a vote.
SAG-AFTRA union in the video game segment are encountering the same issues as WGA union writers and SAG-AFTRA film and TV industry actors. In this case, they are concerned about the likely unfair utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in their work amid the pay minimums not keeping pace with inflation or failing to change to keep pace with the changing models of the industry.
Via a news update, SAG-AFTRA revealed that its signatory video game firms, which entails companies that have accepted to hire union employees and heed union regulations, have ‘declined to provide satisfactory terms’ on the previously mentioned problems.
Video Game Firms Warned Against Ignoring Actors’ Grievances
Famous game publishers, for instance, Epic Games, Insomniac Games, WB Games, Take 2 Productions, and Electronic Arts (EA), are examples of game firms included in the current talks. In the post, Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, said it is time for video game firms to quit playing and become serious about arriving at an agreement on the contract.
Fran added that the vote’s findings indicate their membership comprehends the negotiations’ existential nature and that the firms, which are generating significant incomes and paying their chief executive officers extravagantly, should provide performers with an agreement that keeps performing in video games as a feasible career.
Game Industry Bound to Witness Actors’ Strike
Via a message, Ben Prendergast, a voice actor who plays Tyr in Sony’s God of War: Ragnarök and Fuse in Electronic Arts’ Apex Legends, revealed that strike approval in the game industry was ‘unavoidable.’ He stated that the interactive agreement fails to obey the theatrical agreement regarding residuals, which makes it a bit trickier. However, since more considerable revenues are at play, he believes the strike might take some time before reaching an agreement.
Prendergast added that it seems the producers have established that intimidating actors may work. However, when one attempts to intimidate all of them, the strategy becomes ineffective.
More game voice actors, for instance, Victoria Atkin, the performer of Assassin’s Creed and Diablo, have also advocated for a strike. In this case, they have taken to Twitter and written that studios must ‘pay our #videogame heroes.’
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