The SAG-AFTRA labor union is calling for a strike of video game performers in Hollywood against video game companies over failed negotiations related to AI and pay concerns.
The performers in question include video game voice actors and motion-capture performers. The strike, if it continues, will bring about the latest work stoppage in Hollywood. The labor union has called a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement.
Strike Against Video Game Companies
The decision to hold a strike against video game companies comes after months of negotiations with various studios.
These include Activision Productions, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive, Disney Character Voices, and Warner Bros. Discovery's WB Games.
However, the Interactive Media Agreement expired in November 2022 and was being extended on a monthly basis as negotiations were ongoing.
In a statement, the SAG-AFTRA labor union said that although they reached agreements on many issues, employers refused to plainly affirm that they will protect all performers covered by the contract in their AI language, according to CNN.
The labor union also represents the film and television actors who previously went on strike in July last year.
Those particular strokes were over concerns of inadequate safeguards against artificial intelligence. They put Hollywood in the midst of two simultaneous work stoppages for the first time in more than six decades.
Other than AI protections, SAG-AFTRA's other pressing issues brought up in the contract negotiations for video game performers were higher salaries, medical treatment, and breaks for motion capture performers.
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher released a statement, saying that they will not consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of the labor union's members.
She added that they will be ready to negotiate when the companies are prepared to offer an agreement that the union's members can live and work with, said Deadline.
Negotiations for a New Contract
The labor union's interactive committee chair, Sarah Elmaleh, spoke in a press briefing after the announcement of the strike. She addressed the timing of the expected work stoppage during Comic-Con.
Members of SAG-AFTRA will be allowed to partake in the convention, which will run through Sunday, despite the order for a strike. She argued that this flexible stance stems from the fact that everything was happening very quickly.
The labor union's executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, noted that it was simply surprising that video game companies haven't learned anything from last year.
This was that SAG-AFTRA members can and will stand up to demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to AI, according to the New York Times.
