From October 2016 to September 2017, SAG-AFTRA, representing video game voice actors, went on strike against American video game companies over failed contract renegotiation terms of the Interactive Media Agreements that had been in discussion since February 2015. The union sought to have actors, voice actors, and motion-capture actors who contribute to video games be better compensated with residuals based on video game sales atop their existing recording payments; the game companies asserted that the industry as a whole eschews the use of residuals, and by giving the actors these, they would trivialize the efforts of the developers who are "most responsible" for the development of the games. In exchange, the companies had offered a fixed increase in rates and a sliding-scale upfront bonus for multiple recording sessions, which the union had rejected. Other issues highlighted by the strike include better transparency in what roles and conditions actors would perform, more safety precautions and oversight to avoid vocal stress for certain roles, and better safety assurances for actors while on set.
Actors within the union used both physical and virtual picketing to make the public aware of their complaints, and gained support from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Actors' Equity Association, the British Actors' Equity Association, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, the Australian Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, and Equity New Zealand, who requested that their members not take any of the acting work that was open due to the striking actors. It was the first such unionized strike in the video game industry. Due to the commonly long development period for video games, the strike's impact on the industry was initially expected to be felt for years.
A deal between SAG-AFTRA and the companies was reached on September 23, 2017, effectively ending the strike after 340 days, making it the longest strike in the union's history at this point in time. The agreement was ratified by SAG-AFTRA's board of directors and approved by majority vote in November 2017, creating a new three-year contract. The deal was praised by some but largely criticized by voice actors, who felt that the union conceded too much to the video game companies in order to accept a pay rise for actors and pointed out that the agreement did not include residuals or any specific terms in regards to the issue of vocal stress.
Background Around a quarter of video games use some type of acting, either as live actors for full motion video, voice actors, or stunt actors for motion capture. As the video game industry became more financially successful in the early 2010s and video game hardware became more ubiquitous in households, many video game developers and publishers started to bring in well-recognized actors from avenues such as film and television for recording lines or footage for video games. Obtaining recognized actors for games can help to sell the title and generate potential promotional leads from non-traditional channels, such as having that actor promote the game while on talk shows.
Within the United States, several of these actors are members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) or American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which merged into SAG-AFTRA in October 2012. The merged union has around 165,000 members as of 2016, with about 6,000 members that perform regularly for video games. As early as the 1990s, these unions had developed Interactive Media Agreements with the video game industry to set standard rates for a typical four-hour recording session; in 2005, this was about $759, increasing to about $800–825 in 2013. These are considered as minimum assured rates, but actors are free to negotiate higher rates with the game's developer or publisher. The majority of video games use non-union actors, with Deadline estimating in 2016 that a quarter of games are union projects, with more established actors working on games.
Unlike other entertainment media such as film or television, video game voice actors are not paid residuals or secondary compensation based on the success of a game. Part of this is related to the relative age of the video game industry, which only recently has been seen to be as successful as film or television; in 2005, the video game industry was worth about $11 billion, while the film industry drew in over $100 billion. As such, demanding residuals at that time was not seen as a necessary benefit to the actors. Many actors had additional jobs in other entertainment sectors besides video games, and receiving residuals was not critical for them to make a living. Video games were also rarely promoted to emphasize the actors behind the characters, unlike television and film, as consumers were unlikely to be directed towards purchasing a game based on its selection of actors. Further, the video game industry itself is not as profitable as large growth numbers suggest, as much of the money earned by a sales or title is spent to offset the already-spent costs of having a large team of programmers and artists to develop the game.
The video game industry has grown quickly since 2005, with projections that it would become a $100 billion industry by 2018. As early as 2008, discussions and arguments from the actors' unions stated that the video game industry should pay residuals on sales to actors, seeking equality with other entertainment industries with the potential for a strike action if the industry did not agree. More pay was negotiated in June 2005 and informing actors of "vocally stressful work" was negotiated in October 2009. Michael Hollick stated that he had only been paid about $100,000 for voicing Niko Bellic, the main character of Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), which earned more than $600 million within its first three weeks of release. Despite this discussion, SAG-AFTRA and the industry negotiated continuations on the Interactive Media Agreement without the inclusion of residuals; in the most recent successful negotiation, to extend the Interactive Media Agreement through 2014, the two sides agreed to account for additional session fees for actors in games designed for cloud gaming.
2015–2016 negotiations With the Interactive Media Agreement to expire by the end of 2014, SAG-AFTRA and representatives of the video game industry began negotiating new agreement terms in late 2014. The parties had not come to an agreement when the Agreement expired, but the union members agreed to continue to provide acting work at the existing rates in good faith while negotiations continued. Meetings were held between parties in February and June 2015. At these meetings, the SAG-AFTRA representatives started pushing for inclusion of residual payments, stating that the video game industry now has the ability to pay such residuals because it "has grown, boomed and morphed into something bigger and lucrative than any other segment of the entertainment industry, and it continues to do so". The union sought "performance bonuses" that would earn actors an additional $825 for each session they did on a game for every 2 million copies of that game sold, up to 8 million copies. The industry stated they were concerned that this type of payment structure would be financially harmful.
The union was also concerned for actors involved in "vocally stressful" roles, and sought to have similar restrictions on session time and foreknowledge that one would give for stunt acting. Around June 2016, SAG-AFTRA sent a letter co-signed by several of its members to the California division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requesting them to investigate health and safety issues related to the "vocally stressful" roles, citing several members who had developed vocal cord damage while recording screams and shouts for video games. The union specifically asked the division to evaluate these injuries resulting "voice acting in video games due to employers pushing too hard or not providing adequate safety measures". The union said that they do not want to force new OSHA-driven regulations on the industry but considered this as a point of last resort if the video game industry did not help alleviate this situation.
A third point of negotiation arose from transparency aspects for voice actor roles, an element that comes from the industry's background in the technology sector. Video game companies had relied on the same type of secrecy that high tech firms use, enforced by strict non-disclosure agreements, and do not want to have details of future games be presented to potential actors before they have committed to the part. These companies generally feared that leaks of seemingly trivial details from voice actors from a yet-announced or yet-published game can create a significant impact via social media, and could lead to competitors in the industry beating a company to market with their own product. Even after actors have accepted their part, they may not have been told any details outside fundamental aspects of the character they are to voice or perform as, and with auditions and recording sessions that occur through email and remote communications, the actors could not inquire about the role, leaving them unprepared. The situation left actors unclear about the role they are expected to perform until they were on the job, which created issues if the role required "vocally stressful" situations. In some cases, voice actors were not told what game they have performed for, only to discover their involvement after a game is published, making it difficult to maintain a professional resume for other gigs. The union sought to have the video game industry provide sufficient details to actors about their parts without having to sacrifice their secrecy, so that actors can better negotiate terms of their contracts.
By September 2015, SAG-AFTRA considered the negotiations to not go well, finding the industry's demands untenable, and proceeded to have its members vote for a strike authorization. Union members agreed to authorize a strike by a 96% margin in October 2015, giving the SAG-AFTRA negotiators a bargaining chip to use during further discussions with the industry.
Negotiations continued into 2016. Alongside the main negotiations for the Interactive Media Agreement renewal, SAG-AFTRA had started discussions to craft a special "low budget" agreement for union voice actors, defined for games with less than a $250,000 production budget, such as most indie games. The terms of this agreement addressed similar points as the broader Interactive Media Agreement negotiations, including dealing with "vocally stressful" roles, and would offer performance bonuses for every 500,000 units sold, up to 2 million units.