SAG-AFTRA Says 80 Video Games Signed to Deals During Strike Against Major Studios
As SAG-AFTRA’s video game strike continues, the union stated on Thursday that 80 games were signed to agreements with the labor group that will allow them to continue work with union performers during the labor dispute.
By signing on to either SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreement or tiered-budget agreement, developers on these titles can employ SAG-AFTRA performers while actors are abstaining from struck companies. Though the union did not specify the games that are working under these agreements, in statements some companies identified as signatories.
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“Little Bat Games is proud to work with SAG-AFTRA in ensuring that top-tier voice talent is appropriately compensated and protected,” the two-year-old studio said in a statement. “As a small studio working on a game about psychology, we always advocate protecting human interests and appreciate SAG-AFTRA’s help to keep the industry accountable.”
Added Studio Wildcard development director Jeremy Stieglitz, “Studio Wildcard partners with production company Noah Protocol for all of its SAG-AFTRA member videogame voice recordings, in ARK: Survival Evolved and beyond. SAG-AFTRA has enabled us to work with top-tier talent using standardized union agreements, which has been a huge benefit to the quality and consistency of voicework in our games.”
The news follows SAG-AFTRA’s announcement on Wednesday that the AAA developer Lightspeed LA has signed an interim agreement with the labor group and could finish work on its first project, the dystopian open-world game Last Sentinel. (Lightspeed LA is a division of Lightspeed Studios, behind Undawn, Titans: Last Stand and Code: To Jin Yong.)
The union’s interim agreement, reflecting its demands in the ongoing stalemate with major video game developers, requires performers to consent to the use of AI at particular stages and be paid for that usage. Employers must tell an actor either at an audition or job offer if they are seeking to create a “digital replica” of that person and get their consent, for instance, and get a greenlight from the performer and negotiate pay before that digital replica is used. The agreement also provides for a wage increase of 7 percent effective July 26 and 7.64 percent starting Nov. 7 and a health and retirement contribution rate increase of 17 percent.
“Lightspeed LA has always recognized and valued the irreplaceable role of talent, which injects creativity, innovation, and the human touch into video games,” Lightspeed LA general manager Steve Martin said in a statement. “Supporting our cast is the right thing to do and there was never any hesitation to consider the performer protections that anchor this agreement.”
SAG-AFTRA called its strike against firms including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, Insomniac Games and Disney Character Voices on July 25. With discussions over a new Interactive Media Agreement dragging on for nearly two years, union performers walked at that point over an ongoing disagreement on AI issues, which the union considers to be existential.
“This strike has always been as much about the start of work with proper A.I. protections as it is stopping work without them,” Interactive Media Agreement negotiating chair Sarah Elmaleh said in a statement about the Lightspeed LA deal. “Lightspeed LA understands how crucial these protections are to the actors, and followed through with an outstanding commitment not only to this cast, but their future casts.”
A spokesperson for the video game companies deadlocked with SAG-AFTRA over the Interactive Media Agreement has disputed the union’s characterization of their AI offer. The companies’ proposal would provide “meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA,” this person stated.
Sept. 5, 5:30 p.m. Updated with the news that 80 video games signed to SAG-AFTRA contracts.
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