Videogame Voice Actors union possibly getting ready to strike

[Cerus]

I'm sure there are plenty of new voice actors to take their checks

You don't realize how many fans these voice actors have do you? They aren't easily replaced and fans would boycott any new actor.

[tehdef]

Lol, this shit is hilarious.

These voice actors are asking for CUTS OF THE PROFIT....

Are you kidding me? There are people who spend months upon months upon months on a project and just get bonuses. I worked for a massive triple A company, and I helped launch one of the most successful games ever and I barely broke 90k that year, and that was due to 3 bonuses at around 17,000$.

These voice actors do 2 weeks worth of work and want a cut of the profits through the life of the project? Fuck them.

Inconsiderate twats.

[Kaleredar]

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 get people saying that about everywhere they work. Apparently working anywhere, doing any job, is just god awful. Insiders told me.

[Zephre]

Half the famous voice actors sound the exact same in every role they do even when trying to sound different. Look at Laura Bailey even when she tries to sound different you know it's her from a mile off, most of them are over rated and get paid more than the average 9-5 joe does anyway they're just being greedy douchebags like royal mail.

[derpkitteh]

femshep is apparently one of them that might strike.... not a huge loss there, tbh. her voice is kinda boring and it's always exactly the same in everything she does.

[Cerus]

Lol, this shit is hilarious.

These voice actors are asking for CUTS OF THE PROFIT....

Are you kidding me? There are people who spend months upon months upon months on a project and just get bonuses. I worked for a massive triple A company, and I helped launch one of the most successful games ever and I barely broke 90k that year, and that was due to 3 bonuses at around 17,000$.

These voice actors do 2 weeks worth of work and want a cut of the profits through the life of the project? Fuck them.

Inconsiderate twats.

And I created the iPhone.

Also - it takes more than 2 weeks to record for a game and they're almost always working on something.

[Jkurbs]

You don't realize how many fans these voice actors have do you? They aren't easily replaced and fans would boycott any new actor.

I've played video games my entire life and I could not name a single voice actor from any game.

[Paula Deen]

Somewhat conflicted when you consider that the people actually making the game dont get an amazing income, have zero job security, run the risk of not getting paid on time or at all if the company suffers, work to arguably worse deadlines/expectations and more often than not, work ridiculous amounts of unpaid overtime to push a project out.

So long as it doesnt take anything away from devs I dont think its a bad thing, people should always stand up for themselves in the workplace.

Wait, what do you mean Voice Actors don't matter as much as the people who make it? Surely I must be dreaming where someone else in the thread agrees with me.

[Tech614]

Lol, this shit is hilarious.

These voice actors are asking for CUTS OF THE PROFIT....

Are you kidding me? There are people who spend months upon months upon months on a project and just get bonuses. I worked for a massive triple A company, and I helped launch one of the most successful games ever and I barely broke 90k that year, and that was due to 3 bonuses at around 17,000$.

These voice actors do 2 weeks worth of work and want a cut of the profits through the life of the project? Fuck them.

Inconsiderate twats.

2 weeks worth of work?

Lmfao, in most AAA games now the filming(yea most AAA devs worth their salt now full body capture acting they aren't just sitting in a recording booth) and recording sessions are longer then an entire season of a show.

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Wait, what do you mean Voice Actors don't matter as much as the people who make it? Surely I must be dreaming where someone else in the thread agrees with me.

The people most responsible for the success of a game on the dev team make a hell of a lot more money then your average voice actor does.

There are 2 types of game developers in the AAA world, the ones with job security the "core 100" of select studio that have full benefits, these are the guys who make the games happen. Then you have the freelancers who bounce around from studio to studio during full development to brute force code and make the game work by deadline. They still make a decent amount of money but have much smaller amounts of job security and benefits.

Number 2 type of developer is in the same situation voice actors are in and can feel free to fight for what they think they deserve the same way the voice actors are, but don't sit here and try to blow smoke up my ass like the average voice actor makes anywhere close to the amount of money the lead writers, artists and tech people do at development studios. It's not even close.

[llubtoille]

Yay for less metzen monotone evil guy mwahaha voice (?)

Depends which way it goes. If Activision concedes to their demands then they will only be able to use Union members for voice acting, in which case Metzen (who very likely is not a union member) will not be able to participate.
However if Activision gives them the metaphorical middle finger, they will not be able to use Union voice actors and come to rely more on non-union or in-house staff for voice acting, thus more Metzen.
Personally I'd prefer they go back to using in-house / amateur voicing. They lose a bit (or a lot) on 'realism', but I rather enjoy the enthusiasm and passion that comes from the vocalist being heavily invested in the product.

[Edge-]

Personally I'd prefer they go back to using in-house / amateur voicing. They lose a bit (or a lot) on 'realism', but I rather enjoy the enthusiasm and passion that comes from the vocalist being heavily invested in the product.

You say that as if professional voice actors don't have anything invested in projects or have any passion for them.

That's like saying you'd rather have the writers and financial backers for a screenplay act in the move rather than actors because they have more invested. That's silly. I'm not saying that some of the in-house folks can't do a fantastic job (because they do), but I'd challenge you to find some professional voice actors that don't take their job seriously and don't get enthusiastic/passionate about many of the projects they work on, especially if they're part of a franchise/series where they spend game after game playing the same character.

[Kyanion]

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.

And yet some of them sound almost the same in every role. There is some amazing VAs out there and then there are plenty of shitter ones. This isn't like Japan where you have above and beyond amazing voice talent that works their ass off in their roles. Outside of a few standout VAs here in the states the quality is pretty mediocre. Yes some of them deserve big payments, but a lot of them do not.

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You don't realize how many fans these voice actors have do you? They aren't easily replaced and fans would boycott any new actor.

For certain iconic roles sure. But there are tons of games out there with plenty of VAs to go around. It won't stop me from playing tons of games if X major VA isn't in the game. Sorry.

Like for example if they did a Mass Effect 4 (yes I know the next game isn't part of the trilogy but stay with me) and they wanted to replace the female/male Commander Shepard voices? People would go fucking apeshit and with good reason. So in that situation I have NO problem with the VA demanding more money.

But for minor background character X that speaks 10 lines? Get the fuck out.

[oplawlz]

You don't realize how many fans these voice actors have do you? They aren't easily replaced and fans would boycott any new actor.

You vastly overestimate how many fans these voice actors have. The average gamer gives no shits who is reading a piece of paper into a microphone, they care if the game is good. Hell, most of the time I play with voices off and subtitles on because generic voice number 13 grates my nerves.

[Gourmandise]

The is Jesse Cox's time to shine!

[Lothaeryn]

On the one hand, I severely dislike unions due to personal experiences with them. On the other, these guys are dealing with EA and Activision, so I understand why they don't want to get scammed when doing work for them.

an Impasse for me if anything. But if David Hayter gives his support, I will as well.

[Shink]

a cut from profits? yeah no, A cut from the over-payed high staff (like the president, board of directors of any company etc.)? Yes i can get behind that, most of the time, they are just faces anyway.

[minteK917]

Nolan North and Troy Baker arent in the list, they probably could voice the entire video game industry on their own if they had the time to. Claudia Black erection enducing voice is not on the list either, ill live.

[Calfredd]

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

Is 47k a year (on average) enough for a solid gold humvee?

[Edge-]

Is 47k a year (on average) enough for a solid gold humvee?

For one about this big |--| sure!

[Sykol]

Oh no, now who out of the billions of people left on the planet will lend their voices to my video games?