Video game artists prepare to strike for better working conditions and wages

Cissy Jones isn’t asking to be paid millions of dollars to voice video games, but the actress and others like her who perform under a Screen Actors Guild video game contract say they need more money to deal with the rising cost. of life.

“We haven’t had an increase in five years, maybe four years, and prices have gone up. Our rates haven’t gone up,” said Jones, a BAFTA winner for her voice role as Delilah in the Campo Santo video game “Firewatch.” Jones is covered by a contract with video game producers negotiated by SAG-AFTRA.

Voice actors and motion capture artists in the multibillion-dollar video game industry voted overwhelmingly on Monday to authorize a strike if negotiations for a new labor contract, set to begin on Tuesday, fail, setting the stage for another possible one. work stoppage in Hollywood.

SAG-AFTRA reported that 34,687 members voted, 27.47% of eligible voters. The union is the same one that represents film and television actors who went on strike in July, putting Hollywood in the midst of two simultaneous strikes for the first time in more than six decades.

The SAG-AFTRA agreement covering video game artists expired last November and was extended monthly as the union negotiated with major companies in the industry.

Concerns about Artificial Intelligence

The video game sector generated total revenue of 180.3 billion dollars in 2021 and is expected to generate revenue of 218.8 billion by 2024, according to data analysis firm Newzoo.

With video game console sales on the rise in 2023, PlayStation maker Sony said in July that it expects to sell 25 million units of PS5 consoles this year, a record for any PlayStation device.

As profits soar, teams at video game companies, in addition to artists covered by SAG-AFTRA, unionized for the first time this year.

In July, Sega workers formed the largest multi-department video game union in the United States, after Microsoft video game testers formed their first union in the country in January.

In addition to salary, video artists represented by SAG-AFTRA say the most pressing issues being negotiated include getting Disney, Activision, EA, Epic Games and others to consult with artists about using artificial intelligence to create voices, something that some of the companies are already doing.

For artists in the industry, the union is also demanding more safety measures for motion capture artists, who use markers or sensors on their skin or a suit to help game creators create characters’ movements.

The union is asking that performers who work in front of the camera be given the same five minutes of rest per hour that performers who work off-camera are entitled to, SAG-AFTRA said in a statement on its website.

They also request that a doctor be present on set for dangerous stunts, as well as on film and television sets.

For Jones, the power of artificial intelligence became apparent 18 months ago when she saw that a fan had created videos on the social media platform TikTok that included a scene from the Disney Channel animation she dubbed, “The Owl House.”

“They were using a version of my voice in these fan scenes,” she said.

“I panicked,” she said. “This is my only way of making money. This is the only way to work at the moment. This is how I feed my children and keep them in school. Someone had taken my voice without my consent.”