BBC News: Video Game voice actors approve strike action in US

[Chadders87]

Video games makers may soon find a shortage of actors to voice their characters after 96% of union members voted in favour of strike action.

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) now want more talks to try to resolve the dispute.

Actors want royalties for games - some of which sell millions of copies.

They also want stunt co-ordinators for motion-capture shoots and stunt pay for "vocally stressful" recording sessions.

Sag-Aftra had needed more than 75% of members to agree before it could authorise a strike.


"It is important to note that the referendum result does not mean that members are on strike, rather, it gives the National Board the authority to declare a strike," the union said in a statement.

"With this result in hand, the Negotiating Committee will seek to return to the bargaining table and continue to press for a fair resolution on behalf of performers working in video games."

Actors have complained that sessions for games such as Call of Duty, which require a lot of vocally stressful sessions, often go on for hours. The union has called for such sessions to be limited to two hours, with actors receiving higher pay for them.

The union also wants actors to be given more information about the roles that they are auditioning for and what they will be required to do, after reports that voice actors were also be asked to perform motion-capture work.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34474234

[Chadders87]

I am seriously considering becoming religious just so I can damn all the unions to hell. Atheism does have its drawbacks at times like this.

This is just a vote approving action by it's members, designed to be used on the negotiations table though. I know there are some really talented voice actors out there, but they demand a good fee for their work. I don't see why they should be entitled to royalties too.

And I get working 2 hour to preserve the voice, but as long as that just means taking a break rather than limiting to 2 hours per day.

[Bagnaj97]

I wonder what rights voice actors get for animated films/tv? I can definitely see an argument for bringing voice acting for games being brought in line with them as they're basically the same job.

I expect game voice acting is less "conversational" as a lot of it will be prompts, or short phrases triggered by certain game/user interactions, but I don't think it would be any more stressful than voice acting for film.