Sep 26th, 2023, 04:17 PM
I'm sure everyone knows about the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes that have been affecting movie productions, but there had been questions as to whether a strike for actors working in video games could also potentially happen. While a strike has not yet happened, SAG-AFTRA members have voted 98.32% in favor of a strike authorization "on the Interactive Media Agreement that covers members’ work on video games".
As mentioned in the statement by SAG-AFTRA on this vote, this authorization does not mean a strike has been called but that if one is called it has already been approved by SAG-AFTRA members to go into action. If a strike were to be called, it would affect the following companies:
The current state of these negotiations is what led to the strike authorization vote, with the hope that it will add leverage for the next negotiation session that starts today (Sept. 26) through to Sept. 28. This will be the sixth round of negotiations according to the statement.
Of those listed companies, three of them (Blindlight LLC, Formosa Interactive LLC, and VoiceWorks Productions Inc.) are not game publishers/studios but instead do sub-contract work for both motion capture & voice acting for other game studios, with some examples of their clients below:
Good on SAG-AFTRA for not backing down on this, even if it could lead to a strike that affects a lot of the game industry. I remember reading about the stuff with Hoyoverse and Formosa and thought it was bullshit then too, and although I hope none of the other companies are doing something that bad they should still be looking out for their actors just as much as I'm sure they look out for their own in-house development talent (in regards to pay, because I know shit like crunch exists and that's stupid too).
Still, if a strike does happen it'll give all those companies a good reason to ship their games complete and maybe the devs will get to take their time instead of having to crunch for some idiot behind a desk.
As mentioned in the statement by SAG-AFTRA on this vote, this authorization does not mean a strike has been called but that if one is called it has already been approved by SAG-AFTRA members to go into action. If a strike were to be called, it would affect the following companies:
- Activision Productions Inc
- Blindlight LLC
- Disney Character Voices Inc.
- Electronic Arts Productions Inc.
- Formosa Interactive LLC
- Insomniac Games Inc.
- Epic Games
- Take 2 Productions Inc.
- VoiceWorks Productions Inc.
- WB Games Inc.
The current state of these negotiations is what led to the strike authorization vote, with the hope that it will add leverage for the next negotiation session that starts today (Sept. 26) through to Sept. 28. This will be the sixth round of negotiations according to the statement.
Of those listed companies, three of them (Blindlight LLC, Formosa Interactive LLC, and VoiceWorks Productions Inc.) are not game publishers/studios but instead do sub-contract work for both motion capture & voice acting for other game studios, with some examples of their clients below:
- Blindlight LLC: Bethesda (most recently for Starfield), Bungie, Square Enix, Rare, and Ubisoft
- Formosa Interactive LLC: Sony (notably God of War), Activision (Call of Duty), Kojima Productions, Riot Games, and Hoyoverse
- VoiceWorks Productions Inc: Valve, Activision, EA, Take Two, and Ubisoft
Hoyoverse Wrote:We truly regret to learn about the ongoing situation. Genshin Impact values and respects the work and effort of everyone involved, and we support our voice actors to claim their proper due. We have made payments to our recording studio on time, and we immediately urged the studio to pay our voice actors from our past payment. Meanwhile, we are also seeking alternative solutions. And we will keep you posted on further developments.
Good on SAG-AFTRA for not backing down on this, even if it could lead to a strike that affects a lot of the game industry. I remember reading about the stuff with Hoyoverse and Formosa and thought it was bullshit then too, and although I hope none of the other companies are doing something that bad they should still be looking out for their actors just as much as I'm sure they look out for their own in-house development talent (in regards to pay, because I know shit like crunch exists and that's stupid too).
Still, if a strike does happen it'll give all those companies a good reason to ship their games complete and maybe the devs will get to take their time instead of having to crunch for some idiot behind a desk.