On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (aka “SAG-AFTRA”) called for an Interactive Media Agreement Strike against 11 companies in the American video game industry. This includes publishers such as Activision, Warner Bros. Games, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive & EA as well as voice production companies such as Formosa & VoiceWorks Productions, alongside Disney Character Voices International, the company responsible for casting the official voice talent for Disney’s characters in all media produced or licensed by the company.
The last time SAG-AFTRA went on strike for the IMA was in 2016, which lasted until September 2017, which gave union members wage increases, residuals and better safety precautions under the agreement. Now, the major sticking point in the contract negotiations is artificial intelligence, and the union has negotiated a year and a half for protections regarding the use of AI. Now, the union has stated that the companies would use the contract to train AI to replicate a voice actor’s voice or create a digital replica of the voice actor, or the motion capture performer without consent or fair compensation.
Last year during the dual Hollywood strike, SAG-AFTRA members voted on the IMA strike authorization with a 98.32% majority voting in favor. In March of this year prior to the strike call, chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland stated that the union is going forward in that direction and last week, the National Board gave the power to call a IMA strike in his hands. The strike call gained support & solidarity messages from fellow unions across the US including many CWA locals, the National Association of Voice Actors, and international unions such as Equity (the UK’s acting union).
As the strike began during the first day of Comic Con International 2024 in San Diego, the strike does not affect the convention, allowing for union members to promote their work without breaking any strike rules. During the first day of Comic Con, SAG-AFTRA’s IMA negotiating committee, which includes members such as negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh, Ashly Burch, Noshir Dalah & Ray Rodriguez, hosted a panel and answered questions from fans about their thoughts on their strike. During the strike, publishers not involved in the IMA can sign interim agreements, such as tiered-budget and localization agreements, which would open the door to other publishers, such as Sega and Square Enix signing those agreements, to continue using union members for localized dubs of Japanese-developed titles.
The last video game voice actor strike lasted 340 days, making it the longest strike in the union’s history. Here’s to hoping the current strike is resolved much sooner.
