Video Game Characters Go On Strike

For the second time in the past decade, video game players are on strike—this time after a year and a half of talks with several major game publishers over AI protections ended without a deal.

Announced this afternoon, the strike, which involves approximately 2,600 voice actors and cameramen under the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement, will take effect from 12.01am on Friday, July 26. The IMA contract expires in November 2022, with negotiations to there was a new generation. an agreement between SAG-AFTRA and a loose group of game publishers (including Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions, VoiceWorks Productions, and WB Games) starting no later than October 2022. A year later in September 2023, SAG-AFTRA members voted to authorize a strike with 98.32% approval.

“The video game industry makes billions of dollars a year. The driving force behind that success is the brilliant people who design and build those games,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA share price The National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, in a statement given to the media today. “That includes SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and deserve and demand the same basic protections as actors in film, television, broadcast, and music: fair compensation and the right to informed consent for AI. the use of their faces, voices, and bodies. In fact, it's surprising that these video game studios haven't learned anything from the lessons of the past year—that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equal treatment with respect to AI, and the community supports us in that.”

According to SAG-AFTRA, agreements on many of the demands made by the bargaining committee, including pay increases, more time off for physical and vocal performance, and medication required during dangerous filming, have been met in the last year- and a half of negotiations. However, according to the union, “the employers expressly refuse, in clear and binding language, that they will protect all artists covered by this contract in their AI language.” SAG-AFTRA has been seeking, just as it did during last year's Hollywood strikes, additional protections around AI technology including permission to reproduce an actor's voice or AI likeness, and increased compensation when AI is used to duplicate performances.

“We will not accept a contract that allows companies to misuse AI to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough,” added SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher in a statement. “When these companies are willing to offer a deal our members can live—and work—with, we'll be here, ready to negotiate.”

SAG-AFTRA last engaged in standoff negotiations with the IMA in 2016, resulting in a 340-day strike that was largely driven by efforts to obtain voice actors' remains. The new strike comes, like last year's SAG-AFTRA strike for film and television actors, at a critical time for the entertainment industry, as up-and-coming stars and actors love it. Marvel Rivals, Star Wars Outlawsagain Dragon Age: The Veilguard prepared to promote their work at San Diego Comic-Con this week. However, unlike the far-reaching effects last year's two SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes had on the 2023 convention, this year's due to the proximity of event attendees they may not be able to see firsthand. According to an FAQ on the SAG-AFTRA website, “given the proximity of the strike call to San Diego Comic-Con, the strike rules related to promotional and advertising services do not apply to promotional and advertising services provided at SDCC 2024.”

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