Video Game Voice Actors Now on Strike After Negotiations Fail http://

[Remilia]

But hell by ur logic the PS era of VO was just fine.......

Well, at least we got some notable lines like jill sandwich. >.>

No I'm just laughing about your version of how these people get treated. As if they are the only people that work long hours for crap pay while the most they have to worry about is a sore throat.

You show true ignorance towards the thousand of other jobs out there that suck way more.

Just cause another one suck doesn't make the current one talking about not suck, they both suck, period.

[Theoris]

Personally i am tired of hearing the same fucking voice actors all the god damn fucking time in western games.
Steve Blum, Troy Baker, Nolan North, Dave Fennoy and Jennifer Hale. It's a snorefest.

At the very least they are decent at what they do. Do they sound generic? Sure, but they do bring something to the table (unlike other people in the business I could mention). Well... most of the time, anyway.

[Sorrior]

I say bring back silent protagonists

[Deleted]

Find it hard to care that much about the "big name" voice actors. Most of them are cringey over-actors. Maybe it'd be good to get some fresh people through the door.

[KrazyK923]

Kel'Thuzad (and/or Kael'thas, whichever you mentioned) and Anub'arak have retained the same voice actors since WC3. Blizzard uses the same pool of voice actors for all of their characters and they never really change them. The only one they've truly lost is the one for Arthas from WC3, the others have all remained.

Kerrigan was given to Tricia Helfer, who does an obviously worse job imo than Glynnis Talken Campbell, that was probably the biggest "fuck you" they've done. According to Campbell, they didn't even approach her to see if she wanted to do it.

I hope all the people bitching that famous VAs want to be actually treated humanely enjoy the absolute shitty levels of voice acting coming out way. Especially when studios are saying things like when Tara Strong was told, right before the negotiations failed, that "Nobody cares about voices in video games." They don't seem to actually know or care that voices legitimately impact the quality of a title.

The logic of "Well there are too many of the same voices in games" is so asininely backwards to me. Do you ever consider for moment why that is? It's because, first and foremost, they're damn good at their job, and, secondly, their fanbase will more likely purchase the product.

[Deleted]

Thank god for based Japanese VA's

[Chinese Bootlickers]

At the very least they are decent at what they do. Do they sound generic? Sure, but they do bring something to the table (unlike other people in the business I could mention). Well... most of the time, anyway.

What bothers me with the ones like Blum/Hale/North, they can do a lot of different roles nicely but the studios seem to be playing safe by having them voice their big(gest) roles, over and over. Can only take so much Spike Speigel/Femshep/Nathan Drake.

[Tech614]

Thank god for based Japanese VA's

Japanese VAs are actually treated well though, and get paid much better then western VAs. A lot of time when games don't come with sub options in the west it's because they don't want to pay the royalties and licensing fees to the Japanese VAs(something western ones don't even get).

People complain they want new VAs who are also good, well maybe if the Troy Bakers, Laura Baileys and Nolan Norths of the world weren't treated like trash you would get more talented actors wanting to work on Video Games.

[Witchblade77]

Permanent damage. As a result of poor work conditions.


VERY few people. It takes acting skills to do voice over, and natural talent doesn't hurt. Think anybody can do it? Let's call up Steve-O and get him in a few roles. You'll be crying in thirty seconds, wondering why someone is murdering a cat next to a microphone.

pretty much. there is a reason why the same couple of dozen actors get hired to do bulk of the acting, and its not just becasue you need to work that much to make a living. its becasue very few people can reliably and quickly pull of a consistent performance in a highly limited time that most video game companies can rent a sound booth/mo-cap stage for. contrary to what so many people in this thread keep claiming? acting, voice acting? is not as easy as you think it is.

that said.. I have mixed feelings about this strike, specifically residuals terms and requirement to tell people auditioning what role exactly they are auditioning for (because I understand why companies might not want to leak future projects unless they are ready to do so - in general, you still get a description of a character, just no specific names). I have a bad feeling that the very actors that they are trying to help - are the ones who are going to get hurt the most, the lesser known ones, the ones still trying to break into the business. well known actors are not going to lose so much work that it irreparably hurts their income. they will still have cartoons, including ones in syndication, they have game projects that are no produced by companies on the list, etc etc. I guess we shall see.

incidentally, on people not recognizing actors. that's kinda the point. a good voice actor melts into their role, as counter-intuitive as it is? a good voice actor can be replaced, or can replace another actor, becasue they are THAT good of an actor that only character remains. the ones you do recognize (and that are well known)? you tend to recognize in roles where they are specifically asked to use their natural speaking voice.

[Deleted]

I think a lot of people can do it.

Well, people who think they can sing are the reason why idol programs exist, but in truth, only a drop in the ocean are cut out for it. You need to have the voice, and you need to have the skill to use that voice.

Voice acting is no different. You need to have that one in a million voice that sounds good to people, but on top of that, you need to be able to use it properly.

[Belize]

Series of tweets by Tara Strong implies these people don't know how voice acting even works.

https://twitter.com/tarastrong/statu...57727529508864
https://twitter.com/tarastrong/statu...81623276646400

It sucks. I've played games with terrible voice acting, and it directly affects the enjoyment of the game. Either that or I just turn the sound off, which also affects it.

Big AAA devs being entirely out of touch??

Wow, who would have thought.

[Mormolyce]

There are some amazing talented VAs out there, and if you look at any good VA's IMDB profile you'll see they were the voice of about 500 characters in shows you've probably watched. They have to do that much work to make a living, it's nuts.

It's a crime that VAs don't get more respect.

[Belize]

Find it hard to care that much about the "big name" voice actors. Most of them are cringey over-actors. Maybe it'd be good to get some fresh people through the door.

You're right. We should ditch every single voice actor except for Scott McNeil.

[Mormolyce]

Kerrigan was given to Tricia Helfer, who does an obviously worse job imo than Glynnis Talken Campbell, that was probably the biggest "fuck you" they've done. According to Campbell, they didn't even approach her to see if she wanted to do it.

It did seem a bit disrespectful, though I didn't mind Tricia Helfer's rendition of the voice and I do understand commercially why they'd do a star recast.

Is she still doing the voice in HoTS?

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We are talking about the same 10-15 voice actors that have done every single video game voice for the past 15 years. If you are being treated like shit at a job, you don't spend 15 years doing it, then bitch one day that you are NOW above being treated like shit.

You think they only started now?

And why do you think it's the same 15 people? Maybe because not many talented people would put up with the shitty pay and conditions?

Let alone the fact that west have a minor actual good voice actors while the rest is "picked off the street to voice morning cartoons" tier shit.

With all due respect to Japanese VAs, this a big pile of weeaboo crap. There are plenty of highly talented Western VAs out there.

And by the way, some of the greatest VAs of all time were from Saturday morning cartoons. Frank fucking Welker for god's sake?

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Blizzard's voice acting has always been toe curling bad.

Complete bullshit. They have fantastic VA work for the most part.

There's a few clunkers in WoW, but hey that game has a massive amount of VA work.

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No I'm just laughing about your version of how these people get treated. As if they are the only people that work long hours for crap pay while the most they have to worry about is a sore throat.

You show true ignorance towards the thousand of other jobs out there that suck way more.

So you're saying that because they aren't digging ditches or cleaning up crime scenes they should just STFU?

Grom has a new voice actor.

Man I'd love to see them bring back the original Grom voice. LOL. Imagine people's reaction :P

Oh no, who else out of billions of people on this planet can fill those roles now?

Let's hear your Illidan.

[zito]

If Tara strong and Matt Mercer didn't exist in video games I probably wouldn't have played those games.

Matt Mercer in Fates was fucking amazing.

[Jtbrig7390]

Well, Blizzard has like 502 characters voiced by one dude, how hard can it be?

I really hope your being sarcastic about asking how hard it can be.

[Eleccybubb]

I'll take their jobs for half the pay! . Each of course not just one damn paycheck

[Putin-Chan]

If Tara strong and Matt Mercer didn't exist in video games I probably wouldn't have played those games.

Matt Mercer in Fates was fucking amazing.

Have to agree with you, half of why I remember the certain chapter in Fates where you kill SpoilerMcSpoilerFace is his voice acting by Matt Mercer in the cutscenes. That and the fact that the chapter was the biggest cockblock ever.

It's so crazy to think he voices McCree in Overwatch and SpoilerMcSpoilerFace, they sound so different, along with the million other roles of characters I loved but never bothered looking up the VA's for.

[Tech614]

There's a few clunkers in WoW, but hey that game has a massive amount of VA work.

No, WoW as a whole has terrible VAing because they typically don't even hire actual actors to read the lines.

I also hope you're joking with that "massive amount of VA work". The entirety of WoW from 2004-now doesn't have as much voice acting in it as a single JRPG like Persona 4 has. WoW has like on average 2-3 lines per boss fight, very rarely has a voice acted cut scenes and has a few lines NPCs repeat over and over to you. MASSIVE indeed lmao.

[Chinese Bootlickers]

Have to agree with you, half of why I remember the certain chapter in Fates where you kill SpoilerMcSpoilerFace is his voice acting by Matt Mercer in the cutscenes. That and the fact that the chapter was the biggest cockblock ever.

It's so crazy to think he voices McCree in Overwatch and SpoilerMcSpoilerFace, they sound so different, along with the million other roles of characters I loved but never bothered looking up the VA's for.

Crazy, crazy indeed.