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

[Jtbrig7390]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/vid...source=twitter

Nearly two years of negotiations failed.

Representatives for the video game industry have now released a statement in the wake of the strike that began at 12:01 AM PT this morning.

"The Video Game Companies did everything in their power to reach agreement with union leaders, offering a money package almost identical to SAG-AFTRA's last demand," chief negotiator for the publishers, Scott Witlin, said. "We are greatly disappointed that SAG-AFTRA refuses to allow its members to have a democratic vote on our proposal and decide if the significant money on the table is acceptable to them. The strike is going to hurt the SAG-AFTRA performers that these Companies value."

"The strike will have little to no immediate impact on the ability of fans to buy and play the video games they love as the majority of upcoming games already are in production--and the union is not permitted to strike most of the games due to the nature of the 'No Strike Provisions' of the interactive media agreement," he added. "The sad part is that the very performers who these Companies value--and who are impacted by the union decision to strike--never got a chance to vote on the Companies' proposal."

The final offer from the video game industry was an immediate 9 percent wage hike and "additional compensation" of up to $950 per game depending on the number of sessions a performer worked on a game.

"We value our performers and their dedication," Witlin said. "Many of the Companies and people on our committee are the best evangelists for the use of SAG-AFTRA members in this industry. It is unfortunate that SAG-AFTRA rushed into a strike that will immediately and directly take money out of their members' pockets."

[Pendulous]

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.

[monkmastaeq]

meh , i play 95% of game without sound. Get someone else to talk and chuck these prima donnas on the street.

[Gracin]

meh , i play 95% of game without sound. Get someone else to talk and chuck these prima donnas on the street.

It isn't just Voice actors, it's the mo-cap and stunt people as well.

[Graeham]

You realize many people play these games for the entire package right? Good VO is part of that and it's not nearly as easy as you might think.

Yeah. Terrible voice acting is a deal breaker for many people - myself included.

[Daedius]

Disgraceful

[Ilfayt]

It isn't just Voice actors, it's the mo-cap and stunt people as well.

You know what makes it worse? Apparently there's little to no Hazard pay for that side of it as well. The old contracts were from the early 90's, before Voice acting in video games become even 1% of what it is now in scale, and loooong before Motion Capture/stunts were even a 'glimmer' in their eye.

And, those of you who don't use your voice in voice acting/theatre(my whole world really), you can blow your voice out. That '850 over 4 hours' gets really small when you take into account fees with agency+actually getting the audition and now more importantly time off from work to let your voice repair. Some of the 'Call of Duty/Battlefield' type games with shouting and screaming for almost every line, where they often have many, many takes of the same shouting and screaming, can lead to people taking 2 weeks off to recover with almost silence while their voice heals up. Out of ALL the companies on the List, EA and Activision are the worst offenders, treating them like 'resources' that get them the voice files rather than actors and more importantly, HUMAN BEINGS.

Also, saw where some of the big studios are bringing that they can't pay more because "Union voice overs only have a 20% market penetration". How did they get that number? Well, instead of looking at what games sell the most or are the biggest 'blockbusters' from these devs, they're looking at games from every single market, including VOICE-LESS mobile games, which there are dime-a-dozen of. It's actually closer to 100% when you look at the top selling games from the console/pc market.

Another thing to note, they aren't treated like this by the Cartoon and Animation industry. It's entirely the video game industry that pays them differently, treats them and their voices like 'machines' to use till they break, and risk their very livelyhood. Any, and I mean ANY excuse EA or Activision could give is immediately ruled out by this. Until they at least do a handful of these things better than other industries, they have no FUCKING room to talk. This whole issue makes me FUCKING MAD, because this is an industry and job I'm in love with. I will not see these people who inspired me to get into acting and opened up a whole new world to me be fucked over by these assholes.

[Deleted]

"We are greatly disappointed that SAG-AFTRA refuses to allow its members to have a democratic vote on our proposal"

Uhh... Yeah... That's not how unions work. The members do not get a "democratic vote" on how the union protects it's members.

[Deleted]

Uhh... Yeah... That's not how unions work. The members do not get a "democratic vote" on how the union protects it's members.

sounds like protection money

[Deleted]

The only thing I ask my self is, are all the voiceactors unable to negotiate thier own contracts or are they just greedy. If a developer hieres bad voiceactors, they get shit from the players, so hopefully they learn thier lessen at some point. Don't see the need for these talks.

[Deleted]

The only thing I ask my self is, are all the voiceactors unable to negotiate thier own contracts or are they just greedy. If a developer hieres bad voiceactors, they get shit from the players, so hopefully they learn thier lessen at some point. Don't see the need for these talks.

There are extremely good reasons why unions exist, and if you belong to one, you have to play by certain rules.

[Zenotetsuken]

Going to play devil's advocate here for a second... 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. This over dramatic whipping people into a frenzy is what unions do, and have always done.
If you can't see this as nothing more than grandstanding, then you haven't been paying attention.

[Ilfayt]

Going to play devil's advocate here for a second... 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. This over dramatic whipping people into a frenzy is what unions do, and have always done.
If you can't see this as nothing more than grandstanding, then you haven't been paying attention.

Outside of leads, there are hundreds of 'extras' voices in the industry that are often reused for "Soldier 1, Townsperson 3, Sorcerer 2" and so on for up to as many lines as a lead in a session. There are WAY more than "10-15". Also, it's an issue that's been boiling up as demand has increased. 10 years ago it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it is more recently. They've been internally raising concerns about it for years(I've talked with quite a few), but 'managing' it until more recently when more of them have been having to take off work for days/weeks from throwing their voices out.

And to those saying it's the Union fucking them over(which we only have 'EA/Activision and buddies' words for it),When they voted to renegotiate, it was a 99.65% "Yes" out of the thousands of members. Even though they didn't get to vote on the negotiations, I'm having a hard time finding a single one of the voice actor's I follow on twitter and other social media disagreeing with their decision. The video game companies offered a settlement+"improved working conditions". Which to them meant letting them take soothing Tea or Water into the few studios where drinks weren't allowed, which the majority already allow that, and it's only 'treating a symptom' not a cause of the vocal stress).

[AeneasBK]

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.

While I agree with you I would also say there have only been about . . . 2 voice actors that I've actually gone to look up (David Warner and Gideon Emery); or recognised across works. Maybe I'm just a philistine; but I'm not sure that it's necessarily so integral to a polished final product.

[Captain N]

There are extremely good reasons why unions exist, and if you belong to one, you have to play by certain rules.

Pretty much this and the demands that the union is making in this scenario isn't massively damaging to the gaming companies either. A reduction in the amount of time an actor can work to avoid vocal damage is a matter of safety. An offer of $950 per game as offered by the companies is low-balling some of these long term voice actors. Asking for a percentage of profit based on sales is pretty normal in motion pictures these days (for A-List Actors) so I don't see why it wouldn't pass onto voice work as well for people like Nolan North.

[Tech614]

Pretty much this and the demands that the union is making in this scenario isn't massively damaging to the gaming companies either. A reduction in the amount of time an actor can work to avoid vocal damage is a matter of safety. An offer of $950 per game as offered by the companies is low-balling some of these long term voice actors. Asking for a percentage of profit based on sales is pretty normal in motion pictures these days (for A-List Actors) so I don't see why it wouldn't pass onto voice work as well for people like Nolan North.

Many people don't realize these actors are not just sitting in a recording studio doing voice work anymore. They're acting out scenes with motion capture gear up to their eye balls while speaking the lines. They're straight up hollywood actors at this point, and I highly doubt film studios treat Dwayne Johnson like they get treated by game publishers.

[Deleted]

Many people don't realize these actors are not just sitting in a recording studio doing voice work anymore. They're acting out scenes with motion capture gear up to their eye balls while speaking the lines. They're straight up hollywood actors at this point, and I highly doubt film studios treat Dwayne Johnson like they get treated by game publishers.

Yes , they truly are the modern day heroes. Up in their eyeballs in motion capture gear and still speaking the lines! Give them a medal , statue and a million dollars each. They have earned it.

[Strangebrew]

While i agree with alot of their points, they seem to believe they should be treated at the same level as seiyuu's does, which is beyond stupid.
Completely different cakes, completely different levels of professionalism.

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.
Seiyuu's on the other hand have agencies in their backs, and they do alot more than just voice acting, they are so huge they can be almost considered celebrities, look at Hanakana, they give a shit about who voices what there. 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.
It's an entirely different level of professionalism and business when it comes to seiyuu's.

Until western voice actor's can get on that level, fuck off.

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.

This so much.

[Slaughty8]

You realize many people play these games for the entire package right? Good VO is part of that and it's not nearly as easy as you might think.

Yeah. Terrible voice acting is a deal breaker for many people - myself included.

I agree. To me voice acting is veeery important, great voice acting is a must, without it I don't feel the game at all.

[Pendulous]

It's not like these people are rolling in money. They don't show up to film the newest super hero movie and get a million dollars. If it seems like you hear the same actors over and over, it's because they have to have all these roles just to make enough money. And a lot of people forget the second part of voice acting. You have to know how to act in order to be good at it.