The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike might be able to grow. On September 1, it was announced that the guild's executive board had sent a strike authorization vote to a new subsection of its membership. SAG members who provide voice or performance acting for video games will have until September 25 to vote on whether they wish to join the ongoing strike comprised of the guild's film and television actors.
The issues that SAG is prepared to strike over in the video game sector are very similar to what their big and small-screen counterparts are fighting for. The union is fighting for a retroactive 11% pay rise, mandatory on-set medics for hazardous performance acting, and protections against the use of generative AI. AI in particular is an increasing concern for voice actors. "Once again we are facing employer greed and disrespect," SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a statement. "Once again artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work."
SAG Strike Set To Expand
Video game voice actors last went on strike in 2016. The collective action lasted 340 days. However, the impact of the strike was hard to define. For example, Ashley Burch did not record voice lines for her role as Chloe in Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. However, she did serve as a character consultant during the strike. This led Felicia Day to label Burch a scab. Furthermore, there was minimal impact to game releases and SAG agreed to a contract that left out many of their demands.
However, that was seven years ago and the world is a very different place. A voice actor's strike now could have major ramifications on the video game industry, especially as studios look to do work on their major Q2 (summer) releases for 2024. Additionally, a number of scandals in the video game industry this year involving the treatment of voice actors could add major fuel to the fire of a strike. This remains a developing story and we'll have any updates when they emerge.
[via]
