The world of video game performers is about to get a lot less game-y and a whole lot more strike-y! Hollywood’s voice actors and performance capture artists are ready to hit the pause button—no extra lives, no respawn. Why, you ask? It’s all due to a robotic rebellion…well, kind of. The strike kicks off at the pixel-perfect time of 12:01 a.m. on Friday, shattering the joy of several game studios over concerns that artificial intelligence is more skynet-y than we’d like to believe.
AI Invasion: A New Boss Fight
The main quest here? Wrangling in the use of generative AI before it pulls a fast one and starts replicating voices and likenesses of actors without so much as a by-your-leave. Imagine having your voice plastered all over the virtual cosmos, forever singing ‘Baby Shark’ with zero royalties. Absolutely chilling. The sword-bright folks at SAG-AFTRA (that’s the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for those unfamiliar with acronym culture) have been jousting over this issue for nearly two long years. Meanwhile, the previous interactive contract expired back in November 2022 and, spoiler alert, had zero provisions for AI.
Leveling Up: Demands and the Drama
Staging this dramatic walkout are marquee names like Activision, Warner Bros., and Walt Disney Co., among others. SAG-AFTRA has one main cheat code: ensure informed consent and just rewards for performers cast in AI’s ever-expanding, algorithmic dungeon. It’s not just about standing in the light of the moon behind velvet curtains; these are tangible stakes, especially in an industry that coins over $100 billion in annual profits. With this strike, a bug may very well infiltrate the efficient code of the gaming giants.
It’s not the union’s first foray into strike mode, either. Once upon a digital dawn in October 2016, video game performers took a stand for the princely duration of 11 months. The result? A bonus compensation structure was born for voice actors and performance capture artists, leaving many with a few extra lives. This time around, they’ve designed a specific blueprint for indie and lower-budget projects—a design which includes some AI protections, much to the dismay of the big bosses who rejected them.
Union Thunder: The Presidential Special
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (yes, the Fran Drescher) doesn’t mince words or pixels. In a statement fit for a final boss entry, she declared that the union refuses to sign a contract that allows companies to convert actors into AI sword-fodder. Members voted with their indices and confirmed, they won’t be bestowing consent to a contract bereft of AI defenses. After all, no one likes a Pesky-Pixel Pete hijacking their voice without so much as an Easter egg of compensation!
The chosen ones on the other side, aka the game producers, expressed their sorrow. Maybe not the single tear of the last scene of a JRPG, but close. They argue they were almost there—just a pop-up dialogue box away from a deal! Alas, the countdown hit zero, and the union ‘rage-quit’ leaving negotiation tables upturned in their collective wake. Will there be a rematch? Only time can toggle the truth.
