Over the past year, SAGAFTRA has been in talks with major video game companies such as Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, and Insomniac Games to come to an agreement regarding AI protections.
Unfortunately, the talks led nowhere, and now all SAG-AFTRA actors, voice actors, and motion capture actors who are working with these industry giants are on strike. Last year, a lot of Hollywood projects were slowed down due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike so gamers should expect to see delays in the production of their favorite video games.
SAGAFTRA Announced A Video Game Strike
The SAG-AFTRA actors, voice actors, and motion capture actors who are working with many popular video game companies are now on strike since they couldn’t reach an agreement regarding AI protections. SAGAFTRA President Fran Drescher claimed on the official website,
We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live – and work – with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.
SAG-AFTRA claims that the people who work in popular video games deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music since they are the ones who should be credited for the video game’s success.
The association has claimed that they have been negotiating with the industry giants for the past 18 months and they believe that their employers are not interested in “fair, reasonable” A.I. protections.
This Is Not The First Time SAG-AFTRA Issued A Strike Against Well-Known Video Game Companies
Roughly eight years ago, SAG-AFTRA, representing video game voice actors, issued a strike against eleven American video game developers and publishers, including Activision, Electronic Arts, Insomniac Games, Take Two Interactive, and WB Games.
The strike was issued after attempts were made to revise the contracts for video game voice actors. Back then also they negotiated with the companies for a year and a half.
They mainly demanded four things: transparency in contract negotiation, preventing vocal stress from long recording sessions, safety assurances for stunt coordinators on performance capture sets, and payments of residuals based on sales of a video game.
The strike eventually ended after 340 days when a deal between SAG-AFTRA and the companies was reached on September 23, 2017. The strike indeed slowed down many major projects, so once again, fans should prepare themselves to see some major delays.
How do you think this strike would affect the gaming industry? Share your opinions in the comments!
