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Major VIdeogame Voice Actors Union Considers Strike With #PreformanceMatters Campaign
- Thread starter Mushroomer25
- Start date
Alex_Mexico
Member
They say they're only asking for these additional bonuses for games that sell more than 2 million leaving the smaller ones untouched seems like a reasonable thing.
I hope this gets resolved quickly.
I hope this gets resolved quickly.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Some games would suffer without them...but I do agree less spoken dialouge in RPGs might end up for the better, such as the return of hidden Party Members. But I'd rather that be a natural choice by the developers, and not forced by a strike.
On that note I'm guessing the FFVII Remake will probably make Vincent and Yuffie obligatory just so the voice acting doesn't go to waste.
I don't understand. Why aren't they allowed to make a union?
Probably a lot of other things, seeing as how their performance isn't even the issue here.
Well even if they're against it, if the union decides to strike and they're in the union then they have to strike too.
I somewhat welcome the return of dubs so shitty that they occupy a special niche of badness. That's probably the only good thing that could come from this.
SmackDaddy
Member
You probably don't notice it. If your games had poopy poop VO, you would definitely care.
Good VO is transparent.
MegaSackman
Member
Sounds fair but this will probably end in more expensive games, therefore, the more we will pay for them.
benicillin
Banned
Surprising number of shitty opinions here. Voice work is a huge part of the modern games industry and the hard work of these voice actors should be compensated fairly. Publishers are well known for taking advantage of performers. All the power to voice actors.
Alebrije
Member
Developers will move to Nintendo style.
Alex_Mexico
Member
Unless all you play is retro, mobile or puzzle games I'm going to assume that more than once you've played a good game where voice actors had a hand at making that experience a positive one.
Is this real?
D
Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
Alternatively, Troy now voices entire games solo.
I hope they can get their voices heard.
It could also backfire for the voice actors too, wouldn't be surprised to see more TV and B-List movie actors hired for voicework if their increased pay gets into the same bracket. More games like Until Dawn, less Troy/Nolan/Laura in the majority of leads.
cubicle47b
Member
I'm sure there are plenty of ways studios can treat their employees and contractors better. That first tweet, though...
The slogan (insert random issue)Matters existed long before black lives matters started up.
Krappadizzle
Member
Fuck *insert most music artists here* they barely write their own songs or make their own music. Most of the songs are made and created by producers. So the people singing want money, they barely did any work. They want money while the producer gets the same shitty salary?
I fucking love how he almost forgot the rest of one of his lines.
Their argument is a good argument to raise the whole behind the game and not just the VA.
Heck for all I care, games could do away with that and I wouldn't notice.
I'd say grunts in QA are more integral to the success of games but then again I don't much patience for buggy BS while I don't give a crap if someone with the range of Spacey was hired to make the VA.
Heck for all I care, games could do away with that and I wouldn't notice.
I'd say grunts in QA are more integral to the success of games but then again I don't much patience for buggy BS while I don't give a crap if someone with the range of Spacey was hired to make the VA.
heliosRAzi
Banned
Now the programmers need to be unionized, too.
Pound_lb003
Member
Okay this is maybe how I should have worded mine. Obviously, I appreciate the work these performers do. But I also don't think Hollywood is the right place to be getting inspiration from.
Otakumegane
Member
So much for Zelda being Voice acted.
Nintendo don't wanna spend that $$
Nintendo don't wanna spend that $$
I don't agree
TheJollyCorner
Member
this is the fucking shit I miss!
xKilltheMx
Member
Good luck V.O.Actors,you have my support
Though aping off of the BLM hashtag seems pretty...ehhhh.
Though aping off of the BLM hashtag seems pretty...ehhhh.
After thinking it through some. Yes Voice Acting is a big part of what can make a game special, but it isn't the most important. This isn't like movies where actors are basically the movie. The programmers, artists, designers, etc. are what make games great. Nobody picks a game up because it has a certain actor in it. They pick a game up because of the people who are making the game.
If anything, this will just mean the AAA industry will go to non union actors (which there are plenty of good ones) since once again this isn't like Hollywood where every actor is part of the union. Instead of Troy Baker voicing generic protagonist we'll just get Matthew Mercer doing it. I understand wanting to get paid more fairly but the pubs in this case have the advantage and probably wouldn't suffer much.
If anything, this will just mean the AAA industry will go to non union actors (which there are plenty of good ones) since once again this isn't like Hollywood where every actor is part of the union. Instead of Troy Baker voicing generic protagonist we'll just get Matthew Mercer doing it. I understand wanting to get paid more fairly but the pubs in this case have the advantage and probably wouldn't suffer much.
goldenpp72
Member
Yeah videogames need to cost a lot more imo. I'd be curious of the statistic regarding the videogame industry gross, how much of those games include actual voice acting?
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Can we just get rid of voice acting in games altogether? I kinda feel like the worst thing that ever happened to games is when they started talking. Zelda-style text boxes is more than sufficient.
HYDE
Member
Precisely...like cheap tightwad bastards.
Most producers will get points on a song though, and can often come out better than the artists as they don't have to pay back any advancements.
On topic though.
Voice acting can pay pretty well, if you have consistent work. Residual payments would be good for the actors, but I'd like to see residual payments made to any contracted staff if a game does really well.
Some of their other demands are on point though. Asking an elderly actor to scream like he's on fire for a tenth take is a painful experience, mainly for the actor. You kill their voice and they can't do any work.
Not the first time I've heard this opinion. Maybe this would improve the situation, though, since there's more incentive to be involved in video game voice acting, and perhaps more incentive to make sure that high-budget games are making the most out of their VA.
Exactly. I don't mean to disrespect the talent and hard work that goes into the performances but is it really that important?
Rats Off To Ya
Banned
Reading through their points, this all sounds reasonable.
Honestly, the industry at large needs a nice, big, labor-centric kick in the ass and we all know it.
Honestly, the industry at large needs a nice, big, labor-centric kick in the ass and we all know it.
they'd also need to get matthew mercer so that they can't just hire him to be troy baker
this probably more stems from more and more games having physical mocap involving more and more stunts and the example on the page where someone did a wire stunt without a stunt coordinator present led to the actor flying into a wall... yeah, this is probably a good thing
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I think that, while I'm sure the studios are probably coasting on the backs of a bad deal from an era when gaming voiceovers weren't anywhere near as important as they are today, and I hope that the situation is rectified in a quick, efficient, and fair way, if this goes for a long enough time, a lot of these actors are going to inadvertently shine a light on the fact there's like 15-20 people who voice like 70-80% of anything notable, and the hyper-insular nature of professional voice-over might end up getting used against them, i.e. "Good. Go on strike. Maybe then people trying to get work who don't know John DiMaggio personally can get some mic time." You can kinda see little hints of that narrative starting to creep into this thread in less than two pages, actually.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
And the artists. Producers. Designers. QA.
Voice actors are but one element of the industry. They can do work in animation, radio and film too, but very few full time game developers can say the same. The fact they already have a union means they are already luckier than most.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Good on them. Voice actors don't get paid nearly enough, and I support them without question in this matter. I wish them the best of luck.
That's not what it is. #PerformanceMatters has been a hashtag for like two years or something.
It is, however, an unfortunate coincidence.