SAG-AFTRA video game strike explained: Why are voice actors striking?
Rockstar GamesSAG-AFTRA has called a strike on much of the video games industry, with voice actors fighting against the use of AI in productions. So, here is everything to know about it.
Over the past year, the usage of AI in video game development has been a point of contention between artists and publishers, as studios openly advocate for its usage or are supposedly hiding their use of AI.
With this call to action from SAG-AFTRA, major titles and developers have been stricken as voice actors are instructed to stop working for certain productions and publishers.
So, here is a rundown of everything about the SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors strike, their demands, and the game titles that will be affected.
When did the video games strike begin?
The strike began on July 25, 2024. This is the first SAG-AFTRA strike for the video game industry.
SAG-AFTRA members authorized a vote, with a yes vote of 98.32% on September 2023. Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and video game developers began in October 2022, though these eventually fell through.
According to their statement, during negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and employers, many agreements were reached. However, developers refused to “plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their A.I. language” during the year and a half of talks.
Why was the video game strike called?
The SAG-AFTRA video game strike was called as the union and video game companies could not come to an agreement on the terms of AI protection.
As their statement says, during negotiations employers refused to have, in clear writing, protections for actors against AI. As a result of not being able to agree to terms on AI protections, a vote was made to strike.
However, during the talks, SAG-AFTRA and video game companies did agree to several important issues. According to Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, in a statement to The Verge, 24 out of 25 proposals were agreed to.
Which video games are affected by the strike?
Most of the biggest video game developers have been named by SAG-AFTRA as stricken companies to work with. Some notable names include; Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, EA, WB Games, and more.
However, it’s since been clarified by a spokesperson for the game developers, Audrey Cooling, that this strike only applies to games that were in production after September 2023.
This means that big games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and GTA 6 are currently unaffected, and those working on these games won’t be penalized for continuing to do so.
If a game studio is looking to employ SAG-AFTRA talents, they must sign the “Interim Interactive Media Agreement”, which will agree to offer protection from AI for members. The union encourages actors to work with these studios.
Since there is such a huge list of stricken developers and games, SAG-AFTRA has a search database for actors to find which productions are struck. However, since a lot of production IDs for upcoming games aren’t public it isn’t very useful for non-actors.
It should be noted that many future games released within the year will already be at the end of their production and have much of their voice acting and motion capture already completed. This means it is likely that many won’t be too affected by the strike. However, other projects still in production will be impacted by it.