Deadline Hollywood today reports that the Screen Actor’s Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has advised its video game voice actors members to take industrial action next week on 21 October.
SAG president Gabrielle Carteris has said that even after months of negotiations, a fair agreement hasn’t been reached. SAG feels that actors appearing in “the most popular games in the world” are not being properly compensated for their work.
At its heart, the argument SAG presents is that video game publishing is a “highly profitable industry” and voice actors are not receiving the “benefits the deserve”, comparing voice actors to their live action film counterparts.
A lawyer representing publishers said he was “dissapointed” to learn of the impending strike.
““It is important to note that the Video Game Companies’ upcoming games are already in production and the majority will be unaffected by any SAG-AFTRA strike due to the nature of the ‘no strike provisions’ of the collective bargaining agreement,” the lawyer’s statement continued. “We anticipate minimal impact on current and near-future game releases.”
A strike was considered as far back as September last year.
We’ll let you know if anything changes between now and next Friday.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
