The performers union sent out postcards for the strike vote on September 16 to “affected members” – meaning those who have worked on the Interactive Media Agreement – with a deadline of October 5.
Advertisement
Check out our most anticipated games of September, one of many videos in Digital Spy’s dedicated Gaming YouTube channel. The union may have also suggested that the proposal offered to them by game publishers may not have been legal in the first place, and a strike is the only way to shift the power from these employers.
This matter has been in negotiations all year, with meetings occuring in both January and June with no resolution met. SAG-AFTRA is now taking a vote on whether or not actors should strike.
Finally, the group has called for more transparency, and is asking that voice actors are told, among other things, the actual title of the game they’re auditioning for, how many sessions they’ll be required to work, and whether or not the sessions will be vocally stressful. What rating are you planning to get? Why? “They’re just testing us out, right?”
As for the other side of the argument, game publishers have stayed pretty quiet as of now, not publicly responding to claims by the union their proposals are “crazy” and possibly illegal.
This includes Dave Fennoy whom some of you guys might have noticed from games such as Batman: Arkham Knight, The Walking Dead, StarCraft 2, World of Warcraft, and more. If during this strike, a game company party to the contract negotiations uses non-union talent on their game, they risk losing the ability to hire union talent in the future.
The Interactive Media Agreement was drafted in the 1990s that details what developers and publishers can and can’t make voice actors do on set, but the industry landscape has changed radically since then.
Video game voice actors are voting on a potential strike after talks between SAG-AFTRA – a division of the Screen Actor’s Guild representing voice actors – and industry representatives ended at an impasse.
Advertisement
A large number of prominent video game performers have already voiced their support for the strike, including Mass Effect’s Jennifer Hale, Borderlands’ Ashly Burch, Metal Gear Solid’s (and Futurama’s) Phil LaMarr, and Wil Wheaton, now providing voice for Firefly Online. Everyone from Steve Blum to Tara Strong has posted on social media using the hashtag #PerformanceMatters to bring awareness to the cause.
