Image: SAG-AFTRA
Videogame performers in the SAG-AFTRA union are going on strike starting today.
Videogame actors in the American union organisation SAG-AFTRA are officially going on strike starting today, on July 26. The strike was voted on by members of the union after, “more than than a year and a half of negotiations,” fell through with game publishers like Activision Blizzard, Warner Bros. Games and Electronic Arts.
These negotiations reportedly involved the use of AI in videogame development.
Videogame actors go on strike amid AI concerns
The SAG-AFTRA actors' union is going on strike against major videogame companies following almost two years of negotiations over its Interactive Media Agreement. According to Deadline, videogame performers within the union will cease to work for ten game companies starting from today. These companies include Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Epic Games. Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, VoiceWorks Productions and WB Games.
This means that videogames like Grand Theft Auto 6 (Take-Two), Marvel’s Wolverine (Insomniac Games) and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra (Electronic Arts) could be affected by the strike, which currently has no end date. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher released a statement explaining the reasoning behind the union’s strike, saying:
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’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland elaborated on the fact that this strike is centered around the use of AI in videogame performances, saying, “[SAG-AFTRA members] deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies.”
The Interactive Media Agreement made between SAG-AFTRA and these ten videogame companies was initially set to expire almost two years ago, but it was eventually extended to allow for more negotiations. The union confirmed that despite this, both parties were, “far apart,” in agreeing over the use of AI specifically.
This is the second strike SAG-AFTRA has approved in recent years, after a Hollywood motion picture and television acting strike took place last year. That strike lasted 118 days in total, and featured AI as a point of contention in negotiations as well. At this point, actors like Ashly Burch (Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn, Tiny Tina in Borderlands) have already confirmed their collective work stoppage until companies like Insomniac and EA agree to the union’s terms.