Are more delays on their way? (Picture: SAG-AFTRA)
Members of the SAG-AFTRA union in the US have voted unanimously to expand their strike into the video games industry.
If there’s one thing that US video game publishers hate more than piracy and leaks it’s unions, and yet in recent years there’s been a lot of talk of developers unionising in order to fight unfair work conditions.
It’s only been baby steps but the obvious model to follow is that of Hollywood, which has unusually strong unions for the US and whose current strike has made it impossible to produce, or even promote, new movies.
Previously, that’s had no impact on video games but now one of the unions involved has voted to strike in terms of members’ video games work, which will make it impossible to record voice acting roles or motion capture.
The current Hollywood strike involves multiple different unions, representing directors, writers, producers, actors, and presenters.
It’s the first time since the 1960s that multiple unions have coordinated their efforts, which are primarily focused on payment for appearing in streaming shows and the use of AI.
The latter is also a major concern for video games, and so SAG-AFTRA, which represents actors, recording artists, stunt performers, and voiceover artists, have voted to extend the strike to cover gaming.
Companies specifically mentioned by SAG-AFTRA include Activision, EA, Epic Games, Insomniac Games, Take-Two (and by association Rockstar Games), and WB Games.
‘Once again we are facing employer greed and disrespect. Once again artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work. And once again, SAG-AFTRA is standing up to tyranny on behalf of its members,’ said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher on the official website.
‘The disease of greed is spreading like wildfire ready to burn workers out of their livelihoods and humans out of their usefulness. We at SAG-AFTRA say no! Not on our watch!’
Although it’s uncommon in movies and TV, video games often use non-union actors – not least because they’re usually cheaper. Nintendo is infamous for doing so (and for having bad voice acting in most of its games) but they’re not the only ones and it may be relatively easy for some developers to work around the strike.
Most well-known voice actors are part of the union though, so that means they can’t work until the strike is resolved and any titles they’re involved in at the moment could be delayed.
Generally speaking, dialogue and motion capture is recorded for games a good year or so before their release, so anything out this year should be unaffected.
However, if any last minute pick-ups or re-recordings are needed then that could be a problem. So, for example, Spider-Man 2 will just have to make do with what it’s got already, as developer Insomniac are specifically mentioned by SAG-AFTRA.
However, the strike won’t start until at least September 26 and won’t necessarily begin even then, as SAG-AFTRA are beginning negotiations by merely using the threat of a strike, rather than starting it straight away.
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Members of the SAG-AFTRA union in the US have voted unanimously to expand their strike into the video games industry.