Videogame Voice Actors union possibly getting ready to strike

[Pull My Finger]

So let me get this straight... some Developers (Example in this case will be Obsidian for New Vegas) get paid a flat rate no matter how good or bad the game sells. These are the people who design the world, make it livable and playable. These are the men and women who work in horrible conditions from what insiders ALWAYS say yet the people who are bitching are the ones who are paid in some cases MILLIONS (David Hayter) to do maybe a quarter of an Audio Books worth of Voice Acting.

This is not only deplorable, but I hope in this one instance they all never get hired again. So fucking disgusting.

Devs are employed. They have a steady income. If they feel that the salaries for their line of work are low across the board, they're free to figure out how to organize themselves and tackle that, like everywhere else.

Contrary to what you seem to believe, freelancers and contractors don't get paid these massive amounts of cash ("millions") at all. Making it actually sustainable is quite the balancing act, so I don't see what your indignation is actually about.

[Tech614]

Also, it isn't 3rd World Shit Tier Developers that complain. There have been insiders from pretty much every major game publisher and developer in the last 10 years coming out talking about the horrible hours, horrible pay, and horrible treatment they get on the job.

You mean the people complaining about having deadlines to meet? Who get paid over time and make a great amount of money? They knew what they where signing up for, and it comes with the territory in desk jobs of almost any profession, it's not a video game industry only thing of the crunch to make dead lines. The average video game developer salary in the west is $80,000 so GTFO with "horrible pay". Most will be making triple digits by the time all the over time it added up, most will make 100k base salaries less then a decade into their career.

Nobody is making shit money making video games outside of eastern europe and other developing parts of the world. The west and Japan pay their developers really well, straight out of a 4 year college.

Meanwhile Voice Actors have NO Guaranteed income, they get paid a job at a time almost like a handy man. They do deserve royalties and benefits like it or not. Independent contractors(which is what VAs in games are atm) get screwed over all the time if they don't get royalties.

[Paula Deen]

Contrary to what you seem to believe, freelancers and contractors don't get paid these massive amounts of cash ("millions") at all. Making it actually sustainable is quite the balancing act, so I don't see what your indignation is actually about.

The example I used, is in fact paid MILLIONS for his work on the game series Metal Gear Solid, it is why they fired him and replaced him with Keifer Sutherland, because unlike Hayter, Sutherland works for a normal fucking price for what he does, voice a god damn video game character. Also, if you have ever played any of Bethesdas games in the last 10 years, the majority of Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim (New Vegas too, but that was Obsidian) budget went to Voice Actors and Voice Acting. You can go check the budgets of them if you don't believe me.

Ever play a game with no voice acting that turned out to be great? I have! It happens all the time, wanna know why? Because it is easier to allocate resources to making the game good when you don't have Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Michael Hogan as the majority of your fucking budget.

Well, maybe if a serious majority of voice actors didn't completely suck, they would have a leg to stand on.

This too, all the voice actors who are involved at this point are or were utter trash. None of the good ones are supporting this because they know where they stand.

You mean the people complaining about having deadlines to meet?

No.

Who get paid over time and make a great amount of money?

HAHAHAHAHA No. Just no. I am sure if you asked anyone, even a god damn Blizzard Employee if they get paid overtime during "Crunch Period" they would say no. Because they fucking don't lmao

The average video game developer salary in the west is $80,000 so GTFO with "horrible pay".

That is because the list of "Developers" includes people like Gabe Newell and Todd Howard who make fucking millions while the coders get paid 30-50k a year for working at all hours of the night and get constant abuse from Publishers.

Meanwhile Voice Actors have NO Guaranteed income, they get paid a job at a time almost like a handy man.

Because they work like a fucking handy man. They get a call. They come in. Get paid during there contract, and when it is done its done.

They do deserve royalties and benefits like it or not.

NO ONE deserves royalties or benefits. NO ONE.

[Pony Soldier]

So is this just another "I'm not getting paid enough money" thing? I find it so fucking ridiculous when these rich actors/performers demand for more money because they think they're worth more. Are you fucking serious? They should be grateful they're getting what they're getting. I'd kill for a job like that. It's fun and you're getting paid thousands of dollars more than your average Joe to play pretend. It's a dream job. I mean really how low can you be to do shit like this? They're a point in life where they can afford to buy a big ass luxurious house(s) with a fancy, luxurious car(s), buy all kinds of gadgets, jewelry, clothes, go on vacations and travel around the world whenever they want and they have the balls to demand that they get paid even more? I mean how greedy and selfish can you get. The pay can't be that bad. I'm sure they're in a position to retire for the rest of their lives if they wanted to.

THEN to top it off they encourage gamers to support their crusade for more money. Like "yeah I agree you deserve to get paid more!" What do we get out of it? Man this whole thing is just so ridiculous. I hope I'm missing something here because these voice actors I grew to like so much are starting to lose my respect.

[Tech614]

The example I used, is in fact paid MILLIONS for his work on the game series Metal Gear Solid, it is why they fired him and replaced him with Keifer Sutherland, because unlike Hayter, Sutherland works for a normal fucking price for what he does, voice a god damn video game character.

LMAO if you honestly believe the bullshit you are spewing. Kojima liked Sutherland's voice more for middle aged "big boss" which was the reason for the switch. If you think Sutherland who is a well known actor is cheaper then Hayter who isn't even fucking known outside of MGS really you must be smoking the pipe.

Let alone you don't even seem to grasp the fact you are comparing lead VAs in AAA games to the entire industry and how asinine that is.

[Pull My Finger]

The example I used, is in fact paid MILLIONS for his work on the game series Metal Gear Solid, it is why they fired him and replaced him with Keifer Sutherland, because unlike Hayter, Sutherland works for a normal fucking price for what he does, voice a god damn video game character. Also, if you have ever played any of Bethesdas games in the last 10 years, the majority of Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim (New Vegas too, but that was Obsidian) budget went to Voice Actors and Voice Acting. You can go check the budgets of them if you don't believe me.

Ever play a game with no voice acting that turned out to be great? I have! It happens all the time, wanna know why? Because it is easier to allocate resources to making the game good when you don't have Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Michael Hogan as the majority of your fucking budget.

The examples you're using - Patrick Stewart, LOL - are in no way representative for the industry as a whole.

If you hire Kevin Spacey to star in your video game, that's gonna cost you and that's your problem. The man has a price. Chances are, if a studio is doing something like that, it's because they have the cash and because they're doing it for what they consider some fantastic marketing value. Wether it pays off or not is another story. That's no different than paying Beyonce a crazy amount of money for 1-2 days of shooting ad footage because you believe that it will make your fragrance sell like crazy.

The standard majority of freelancers and contractors in the field aren't celebrities that can charge a few grand to get out of bed. The wages are quite modest and in order to make ends meet and successfully build yourself, you gotta figure out how to get paid. There's nothing "deplorable" about it. What's "deplorable" are, for example, the joke fees a lot of studios try to pay to composers, or the pittance for which outsorce 3D studios work on doodads and assets because wadded publishers are too greedy to hire local artists and pay them reasonably.

[Deleted]

So you think someone who sits in a chair for maybe 72 hours in total over the course of 3-6 months and records audio while in an air conditioned room with water should be paid more than 100k per title they work on, while the developers who spend quadruple that number of hours in a 3 to 6 month period slaving away to make a game should get paid a flat rate that ends up coming out to about 35-50k PER YEAR (Not title, YEAR)? You think this is alright? I don't.

Also, it isn't 3rd World Shit Tier Developers that complain. There have been insiders from pretty much every major game publisher and developer in the last 10 years coming out talking about the horrible hours, horrible pay, and horrible treatment they get on the job.

Rather than hammering on one part of the people doing the work you should be hammering on the pigs at the top that decide these wages

[Paula Deen]

LMAO if you honestly believe the bullshit you are spewing. Kojima liked Sutherland's voice more for middle aged "big boss" which was the reason for the switch. If you think Sutherland who is a well known actor is cheaper then Hayter who isn't even fucking known outside of MGS really you must be smoking the pipe.

Let alone you don't even seem to grasp the fact you are comparing lead VAs in AAA games to the entire industry and how asinine that is.

Kiefer worked for Cheaper than Hayter by quite a bit. Hayter had the balls to ask for I believe it was 6 Million of the MGS4 Profits and after that he came for Peace Walker before they replaced him with Kiefer who works for a much more reasonable price. This isn't just bullshit I am making up. This actually happened. Go read articles about it. It actually happened this way. Hayter (like the rest of these voice actors) think they are way more important than they really are to a games success and this will bite them in the ass because of it.

Also what are you even talking about with that last sentence?

Rather than hammering on one part of the people doing the work you should be hammering on the pigs at the top that decide these wages

I agree with you completely, but that doesn't change my opinion on these shit tier Voice Actors whining because they don't get paid 100k when I can barely afford my residence. Its pathetic.

The standard majority of freelancers and contractors in the field aren't celebrities that can charge a few grand to get out of bed. The wages are quite modest and in order to make ends meet and successfully build yourself, you gotta figure out how to get paid.

Voicing the Main Character of a game series should net you 30-50k, not a shitload of the games total profits. The system is fine. Hate to tell you but most of the people complaining, besides Hayter, don't do lead roles, they do "Screaming Girl #7" Roles.

[Orlong]

How much does a video game actor make? And how much should they actually make seeing as though they probably only work about 40 hours per game. They go in the studio, read all their lines into a microphone and thats it. The majority of the work is done by the programmers and testers. At most if you play all the lines in a string in a game it maybe lasts an hour in the most dialog heavy games

[Biotec]

These people get paid far more than the people actually making the games and they spend far less time doing their part. They really don't deserve this.

Also forcing everyone to join the union if they want to voice act, even if it's just one of the developers doing a small part, is pretty scummy. I'm sad to see a few of the voice actors I like be part of this BS.

[Xargoth6634]

As someone who plays most games without sound, don't care.

[Tech614]

Kiefer worked for Cheaper than Hayter by quite a bit. Hayter had the balls to ask for I believe it was 6 Million of the MGS4 Profits and after that he came for Peace Walker before they replaced him with Kiefer who works for a much more reasonable price. This isn't just bullshit I am making up. This actually happened. Go read articles about it. It actually happened this way. Hayter (like the rest of these voice actors) think they are way more important than they really are to a games success and this will bite them in the ass because of it.

The onus of proof is on you, in case you haven't figured that out in life yet. When you make a claim other people call bullshit on- prove them wrong if you can.

I agree with you completely, but that doesn't change my opinion on these shit tier Voice Actors whining because they don't get paid 100k when I can barely afford my residence. Its pathetic.

So because you aren't successful, it means another person isn't entitled to fighting what they think they are worth? Great logic.

Voicing the Main Character of a game series should net you 30-50k, not a shitload of the games total profits. The system is fine. Hate to tell you but most of the people complaining, besides Hayter, don't do lead roles, they do "Screaming Girl #7" Roles.

Voicing a main character in a video game should net you the market demand on said game. If you're telling me the voice actor of Trevor from GTAV only deserves 30k when his work helped sell 50 million copies of a game LMFAO.

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These people get paid far more than the people actually making the games and they spend far less time doing their part. They really don't deserve this.

Again this is bullshit. Prove it or stop with the bs claims. Developers get paid very well, it seems you are Paula Deen think all video game developers get paid like interns at 30k salaries. LMAO.

The majority of video game VAs don't get paid a fair share, you would know this if you did any research on the matter.

[Pull My Finger]

These people get paid far more than the people actually making the games

Don't know where you're getting that nonsense from. Why these strong opinions on things you clearly don't have the slightest clue about? It's OK to not know things. I have no idea what a typical forester in Japan makes per year. How would I? But why would I have some completely ridiculous, disdainful "opinion" on it?

[Paula Deen]

Voicing a main character in a video game should net you the market demand on said game. If you're telling me the voice actor of Trevor from GTAV only deserves 30k when his work helped sell 50 million copies of a game LMFAO.

Not really. GTA V was developed by hundreds, if not thousands, of different people, all who had a pretty equal part in its success. Why should he get paid more than others for his voice? The character could have been just as fleshed out without voice acting at all. He got paid a proper amount for what he did.

Again this is bullshit. Prove it or stop with the bs claims. Developers get paid very well, it seems you are Paula Deen think all video game developers get paid like interns at 30k salaries. LMAO.

I can't really prove this myself. I can find you countless articles of high turnover rates at places like Rockstar and Infinity Ward (before they broke apart.) I can find you countless articles of people who work for EA claiming they are forced to work insane hours for a flat 30k salary while the voice actors at an EA Studio get to literally spit water on other peoples faces "for effect."

The majority of video game VAs don't get paid a fair share, you would know this if you did any research on the matter.

They do get paid there fair share. I am starting to think you may be one of these greedy bastards who is demanding even more than they already get, which I should say, is more than they deserve.

[Mormolyce]

I think there are a lot of really talented VAs in the industry and they do an amazing job. Read a VA's IMDB history one day, they play like a hundred roles and you never realised it was the same person. Some of them are as iconic and bring as much to a VA job as any film actor. I fully support them getting paid more, they deserve it.

But I hope this doesn't result in a disruption to the industry.

Why cant I afford another new solid gold humvee abloo bloo.

VAs aren't like Hollywood actors.

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Not really. GTA V was developed by hundreds, if not thousands, of different people, all who had a pretty equal part in its success. Why should he get paid more than others for his voice?

I dunno, why should Robert Downey Jr get paid more than the Key Grip on the latest Avengers movie? They all made the film.

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Kiefer worked for Cheaper than Hayter by quite a bit. Hayter had the balls to ask for I believe it was 6 Million of the MGS4 Profits and after that he came for Peace Walker before they replaced him with Kiefer who works for a much more reasonable price. This isn't just bullshit I am making up. This actually happened. Go read articles about it. It actually happened this way. Hayter (like the rest of these voice actors) think they are way more important than they really are to a games success and this will bite them in the ass because of it.

Please show me these articles, I can't find anything.

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Well, maybe if a serious majority of voice actors didn't completely suck, they would have a leg to stand on.

I dunno what games you're playing. House of the Dead 2?

[Tech614]

Not really. GTA V was developed by hundreds, if not thousands, of different people, all who had a pretty equal part in its success. Why should he get paid more than others for his voice? The character could have been just as fleshed out without voice acting at all. He got paid a proper amount for what he did.

All 700 people who worked on GTAV made a hell of a lot more then 30k for working on the game.

I can't really prove this myself. I can find you countless articles of high turnover rates at places like Rockstar and Infinity Ward (before they broke apart.) I can find you countless articles of people who work for EA claiming they are forced to work insane hours for a flat 30k salary while the voice actors at an EA Studio get to literally spit water on other peoples faces "for effect."

You can't prove it but you're stating it as fact. LMAO.

They do get paid there fair share. I am starting to think you may be one of these greedy bastards who is demanding even more than they already get, which I should say, is more than they deserve.

Oh you figured me out, you may know me for voicing such characters as r2d2 and dog #3.

[Sorrowseer]

Erg, hastags, no thanks actors.

[GennGreymane]

How long has Link's been on strike?

[Scufflegrit]

What in the hell is "Stunt Pay for 'vocally stressful recording situations'"?

If they mean having to scream, shout or make a noise/put on a silly voice, then surely this comes under the normal remit of being an actor? Which in turn would come under the regular paycheck?

I cannot help but think that is kind of frivolous and going to lose them some sympathy. It is still a very new industry though, only 15 years ago, game designers were doing the voices themselves...

It probably has to do with things like the move Titan A.E. where John Lequizamo voiced the character of Gune. After recording was finished, his voice was completely shot and he couldn't speak for something like a month. That would have kept him from working on pretty much any other project for the duration. THAT would definitely qualify as a vocally stressful recording situation which should garner bonus pay. It's not frivolous at all.

[Deleted]

And how much money do they make? Japanese voice actors are extremely lucky if they can make a living wage by doing their job.