The video games industry is emerging as the latest frontline in the long-running industrial relations conflict between unions and executives in the US entertainment industry.
Members of SAG-AFTRA, the trade union representing over 100,000 actors and performers, voted in favour of a strike authorisation on the Interactive Media Agreement that covers members’ work on video games.
SAG-AFTRA is hoping the authorisation (which does not mean the union is actually on strike) will add leverage ahead of a three-day bargaining session commencing today.
Companies involved in the negotiations include Call of Duty developer Activision, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, and Take 2 Productions.
“Throughout the negotiations, the companies have refused to offer acceptable terms on some of the issues most critical to our members, including wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence, and basic safety precautions,” SAG-AFTRA said in a press statement.
“Between the exploitative uses of AI and lagging wages, those who work in video games are facing many of the same issues as those who work in film and television,” said chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez.
“This strike authorisation makes an emphatic statement that we must reach an agreement that will fairly compensate these talented performers, provide common-sense safety measures, and allow them to work with dignity. Our members’ livelihoods depend on it.”
AI infiltrates Hollywood
Artificial intelligence remains a major source of contention in Hollywood strike negotiations, with performers worried about large-language models and voice-generative protocols muscling in on their paychecks.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing giants like Walt Disney and Netflix, offered to exclude AI-generated content from being classified as "literary material" in recent negotiations.
But the video games industry faces unique challenges when it comes to AI.
Work under the Interactive Media Agreement includes performance capture, where actors and other trained professionals provide digitally captured performances used to give expressive movement to video game characters.
SAG-AFTRA warned that the unregulated use of AI poses an enormous threat to these artists’ professions.
Chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland stated: “The voice and performance capture artists who bring video game characters to life deserve a contract that reflects the value they bring to the multibillion-dollar gaming industry.
“Voice and performance capture AI are already among the most advanced uses of AI: the threat is here and it is real. Without contractual protections, the employers are asking performers to unknowingly participate in the extinction of their artistry and livelihoods.”
“The unregulated use of artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to anyone who makes their living using their voice, image or performance,” said SAG-AFTRA chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez.