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[orthodoxy1095]

Well, we knew they voted to do start a strike today, and now it has officially begun.

The largest actors union in Hollywood officially called a strike early Friday morning against several prominent video game companies after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on an increase in compensation for performers who do voice-over and motion-capture work for popular games.

The union was asking for a new compensation structure that would allow actors to start receiving residual-like payments based on a game’s commercial success. They were also asking for improved safety conditions for voice-over and motion-capture performers.

The proposed bonus system would allow actors to receive additional payments for every 2 million copies or downloads sold — or unique subscribers for online-only games — with a cap at 8 million.

But the video game companies balked at the plan, instead proposing a 9% wage increase, which would speed up the 3% annual increase sought by SAG-AFTRA over a three-year period. They were also offering additional compensation of up to $950 per game based on the number of sessions a performer works on a particular title.

The existing contract — known as the Interactive Media Agreement — expired in late 2014 but performers have been working under it as talks have dragged on for 19 months.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ame-sag-aftra-strike-20161021-snap-story.html

Put me on strike if old.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Unfortunely, publishers wont really care. All they will do is pick actors that are in another union or not in an union at all. Troy Baker for example doesnt seem to be attached to any union

Less than 25% of the games use voice actors or stunt doubles from SAG-AFTRA, now it will be 0% and that is about it

 

[Lime]

Good. Thank god for this. I hope game developers follow suit.

 

[Regiruler]

It's interesting that the counter-proposal was an outright wage increase, I would think that taking the bonus route would lead to better safety in case a title bombs.

Unfortunely, publishers wont really care. All they will do is pick actors that are in another union or not in an union at all. Troy Baker for example is not attached to any union

The bakerbot can only be recording in so many places at once.

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Of all affected companies, EA is the only one with a game slated for Q1 2017. I'm wondering if this will cause a delay in Andromeda's release.

 

[KojiKnight]

A lot rides on AAA games getting out and out as fast as possible (with how fast games 'age' in terms of technology, getting out on specific times like holidays).

I expect developers to cave pretty fast.

 

[djplaeskool]

Good. Thank god for this. I hope game developers follow suit.

How many developers are actually unionized though?

Edit: Wait...are there any unions for software developers at all, regardless of focus? Devs seem to be in one of the most vulnerable occupations.

 

[Corleth the Fey]

Of all affected companies, EA is the only one with a game slated for Q1 2017. I'm wondering if this will cause a delay in Andromeda's release.

I'm betting the voice acting is competed in Mass Effect Andromeda. It's more likely to affect games further out.

 

[FelipeMGM]

It's interesting that the counter-proposal was an outright wage increase, I would think that taking the bonus route would lead to better safety in case a title bombs.


The bakerbot can only be recording in so many places at once.

lol, yeah but he was just an example

Less than 25% of the games use voice actors or stunt doubles from SAG-AFTRA, now it will be 0% and that is about it

 

[Patryn]

Of all affected companies, EA is the only one with a game slated for Q1 2017. I'm wondering if this will cause a delay in Andromeda's release.

I'd be more worried about Q2 and Q3 games. They probably already recorded the VO for Andromeda so they'd have time to fully sync things up.

 

[Hendrick's]

Of all affected companies, EA is the only one with a game slated for Q1 2017. I'm wondering if this will cause a delay in Andromeda's release.

Games already in production are not affected.

 

[petran79]

Voice over and motion capture?

Where are the FMV?

 

[Mushroomer25]

Games already in production are not affected.

Technically, any game that was in production prior to Feb. of 2015 isn't affected (since that's when these contract negotiations began).

I expect the affected studios to cave fairly quickly on this. It really seems like the demands put on the table by SAG were attainable, and mostly pertained to worker safety. Even the secondary compensation clause didn't seem like that massive of a hurdle.

 

[LiK]

Some big names are involved. I wonder if game companies are just gonna go with no names.

 

[Zenner]

Games already in production are not affected.

Videogames that were in production before Feb 17th 2015 are not affected: source

Sure, the voices on many games started past that date might be finished, but unfinished recordings and pickup sessions for anything past that date will be problematic.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Any notable voices in the guild? Can't view any of the links from work.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Best of luck to them. I hope they can get a new deal made that will treat them a lot better.

 

[RetroDLC]

SAG-AFTRA is American only. This only effects projects that are casting and recording in the US alone, so it doesn't effect things being done in the UK and such.

 

[Pepin]

Any notable voices in the guild? Can't view any of the links from work.

Jennifer Hale and David Hayter are the two biggest hitters, I think. Both vocally supported strike action.

 

[Servbot #42]

SAG will never ever get residuals, the publishers will never allow that to happen in a million years. They would just use non-union voice actors from now. It just too much money at stake from the publisher's side.

 

[Syriel]

It's interesting that the counter-proposal was an outright wage increase, I would think that taking the bonus route would lead to better safety in case a title bombs.


The bakerbot can only be recording in so many places at once.

Developers would rather pay an upfront, known cost, for a service than have an unknown cost going forward.

Seems silly for SAG to let that be a sticking point.

A lot rides on AAA games getting out and out as fast as possible (with how fast games 'age' in terms of technology, getting out on specific times like holidays).

I expect developers to cave pretty fast.

Not so long as SAG is demanding royalties. This will just mean more new voices in roles rather than big names from films.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Jennifer Hale and David Hayter are the two biggest hitters, I think. Both vocally supported strike action.

But not Nolan North or Troy Baker?

 

[SmoothRunningGun]

Game devs are the ones who should unionize and strike. Probably the only way they will end crazy crunch schedules.

 

[FelipeMGM]

But not Nolan North or Troy Baker?

No, they are not bound to any union

 

[dave is ok]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

 

[Roubjon]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

This is pretty much where I stand too.

 

[Lime]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

Yeah. It's like the people that spend a couple of weeks on a project versus years getting paid far more than the effort they put into it.

Blame the abhorrent games industry and their exploitative labor practices, not the voice actors for asking for proper compensation for their labor.

 

[Jonnax]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

Yeah. It's like the people that spend a couple of weeks on a project versus years getting paid far more than the effort they put into it.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

I agree that companies are going to do everything they can to not pay residuals. Not sure what they'll do with already started productions though.

 

[sensui-tomo]

Yeah. It's like the people that spend a couple of weeks on a project versus years getting paid far more than the effort they put into it.

You're saying actors dont put effort into their work?

 

[jackissocool]

Awesome!

Now the devs need to unionize, and they need to do it bad.

 

[RetroDLC]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

In-house staff get long term contracts or permanent positions, while actors are brought in when needed and they essentially lend their expressive voice (and image in some cases) to the project. Actors don't want their assets used in a context that goes against what they initially lent it for, this is the same when it comes to cinematic films, TV, and every other form of media. Like this.

As a dialogue post engineer, I support actors getting the best treatment in game development (no physical stressing to the voice without careful control, adequate pay, compensation for continued use of their work and so on). America is weird with this kind of thing, I wish unions existed for more of the entertainment and tech industry too.

 

[Rei no Otaku]

Unfortunely, publishers wont really care. All they will do is pick actors that are in another union or not in an union at all. Troy Baker for example is not attached to any union

Less than 25% of the games use voice actors or stunt doubles from SAG-AFTRA, now it will be 0% and that is about it

Pretty much. No one is going to care. Not only are there plenty of professionals that aren't attached to the union, there's tons of new talent out there hungry for a chance to get into the business.

 

[Jonnax]

You're saying actors dont put effort into their work?

Listening to most video game voice overs. I'd argue yes in a lot of cases.

It's not that I don't think they deserve to be paid. It's just that an artist, programmer etc etc. Thay have been on the project since day one should try royalties before voice actors in general.

 

[benicillin]

I'll never understand why so many gamers are so negative towards the people who work in creating the hobby they love - we should all want everyone who works in the industry to have proper pay for their work, proper working conditions and fair contracts. That means supporting voice actors when things like this come up, and that also means supporting developers to do the same thing.

 

[DocSeuss]

Torn because on one hand, people ought to be treated right, but on the other hand, I'm not sure that contractors deserve royalties.

Jennifer Hale and David Hayter are the two biggest hitters, I think. Both vocally supported strike action.

Has David Hayter worked on any notable roles other than Solid Snake? According to IMDB, he's mostly just "additional voices."

 

[Nirolak]

Given the result of the AFM showdown was that no one used AFM members for a decade and 75% of the voice actor pool is non-union, I don't see this ending well for them.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Listening to most video game voice overs. I'd argue yes in a lot of cases.

I don't think that's fair. They put in work and effort, it's just that the result is often lacking because of talent and poor writing/direction

 

[FelipeMGM]

Pretty much. No one is going to care. Not only are there plenty of professionals that aren't attached to the union, there's tons of new talent out there hungry for a chance to get into the business.

Yeah. And if it was something bigger, publishers would start finding other ways to have their voice actors. Maybe even finance in house actors teams

One of the sad truths of this industry

 

[RetroDLC]

Yeah. And if it was something bigger, publishers would start finding other ways to have their voice actors. Maybe even finance in house actors teams

One of the sad truths of this industry

Will never happen, illogical for how much investment such a thing would cost vs. how often they would be used.

 

[Syriel]

Blame the abhorrent games industry and their exploitative labor practices, not the voice actors for asking for proper compensation for their labor.

You're saying actors dont put effort into their work?

I'll never understand why so many gamers are so negative towards the people who work in creating the hobby they love - we should all want everyone who works in the industry to have proper pay for their work, proper working conditions and fair contracts. That means supporting voice actors when things like this come up, and that also means supporting developers to do the same thing.

No one disagrees about getting paid for your work. It is the demand to get paid (and re-paid) for the same work that seems odd.

Improvements in safety? Awesome.

Getting paid fairly? Sure.

But getting paid fairly means getting paid for the work you put in.

Agree on a price and do the job. That's what the game companies want.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Will never happen, illogical for how much investment such a thing would cost vs. how often they would be used.

I agree it will neve come to a situation like this. Just an example that even if it was a massive strike, they would find other ways to work

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I agree that companies are going to do everything they can to not pay residuals. Not sure what they'll do with already started productions though.

Residuals are weird for games. Like, voice acting is probably the smallest reason people play specific games..

 

[RetroDLC]

I agree it will neve come to a situation like this. Just an example that even if it was a massive strike, they would find other ways to work

This strike is US only. Not all English speaking actors are based in the US, there's Canada and the UK with big dialogue projects going on too.

 

[sheamus]

I can see them getting stunt pay and the payraise but I don't see them get residuals on the backend.(possibly a front end bonus if the game sells over X amount of copies in the first month)

 

[d00d3n]

What games will be affected by this? Mass Effect 4? Dishonored DLC? Who else uses established actors from movies/tv in their games?

 

[george_us]

It's going to be really fucked up if we live in a world where VA get royalties on games and the artists, developers, etc. who made them don't.

All for the strike, but devs need a union.

I actually wonder if this encourages devs to unionize if SAG is successful.

 

[sheamus]

What games will be affected by this? Mass Effect 4? Dishonored DLC? Who else uses established actors from movies/tv in their games?

I believe it says in the story about any game that's already in production is fine it's all future games that are going to be a problem

 

[benicillin]

Residuals are weird for games. Like, voice acting is probably the smallest reason people play specific games..

I don't know, for people who play story based games that are more popular than ever voice acting is incredibly important. You can't have a game like The Walking Dead S1 or the last of us and make the same impact without talented actors. It just doesn't happen.

 

[Garlador]

Residuals are weird for games. Like, voice acting is probably the smallest reason people play specific games..

That depends heavily on the game, no?

Some performances are truly iconic and some games are EXTREMELY plot and story-heavy.

It's one reason why I'm still campaigning for Aksys to release an English dub of the final Blazblue game, since the story is exhaustive and voice-acted.