Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson says that he believes the recent strike by video game actors will not have any effect on the studio, at least in the short term.
The video game employees are performing the strike in hopes that the work stoppage could encourage companies to agree to better protections around the use of artificial intelligence. Wilson's comments regarding the matter were made during a recent EA earnings call.
Electronic Arts on Video Game Workers' Strike
The CEO was asked a question by an investor regarding the impact of the video game strike on the company's business.
He first said that the company values the talented actors who Wilson said were an important part of the work they do in order to deliver incredible entertainment experiences to players, according to IGN.
He added that this was not an EA-specific situation but was an industry-wide matter and that they were negotiating with the workers.
The EA CEO noted that it seems like the recent strike is only affecting, at least for now, games that started production after September 2023.
This is why he said that they are not expecting any near-term disruption of the games that EA currently has in development or any of the live-service titles that the studio is now running. However, Wilson said that they are still committed to continuing to negotiate in good faith.
This comes as SAG-AFTRA, a labor union, announced the first in-person action against one of 10 major video game companies impacted by the Interactive Media Agreement strike.
It was said that the picket will be held at Warner Bros. Games Inc. located in Los Angeles, said Deadline.
Avoiding Major Disruptions
It added that the picket will be taking place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PT and members are being asked to gather at Gate 5 of the studio lot.
Leadership will also be in attendance at the picket, including SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating (IMA) Committee members Sarah Elmaleh, Zeke Alton, Ashly Burch, and Andi Norris.
Despite the potential impacts of the video game workers' strike, some companies are more than likely able to avoid major disruptions. These include Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two Interactive.
It joins EA in this regard as both companies have their own in-house studios and they have very long development cycles for their games.
Wedbush Securities analyst Nick McKay said that larger publishers spend anywhere from three to 10 years working on their major games, according to the New York Post.
