Video Game Voice Actors Considering a Strike

You know it’s been a long time since the video game industry has suffered a strike. In fact, gosh… I can’t think of the last time there even was one, actually. There are certainly internal disagreements abound between developers and their workers, but let’s face it, ‘strikes’ aren’t very common in an industry that’s as white-collar and desirable as video game development. Heck, most jobs are so temporary anyway that striking would just be offering your job to the new kid who just got out of ITT Tech with a degree in rendering.

That said, not every part of gaming is so white-collar. Namely, voice actors have surprisingly demanding jobs and are often treated badly by game developers… and apparently, now the SAG-AFTRA, the union group responsible for voice actors and a bunch of other stuff, is strongly considering an actor’s strike against video game publishers.

What’s the problem? Well, like with most strikes, it stems from miscommunication, dishonesty, and a whole lot of missing benefits. Specifically, they want some kind of protection when they have to do something physically demanding for over two hours (such as screaming--try screaming intensely non-stop for two hours and see how your throat feels), performance bonuses when a game the actors work on sell more than 2 million units, and more curiously, for the difference between ‘voice actor’ and ‘motion capture actor’ to be better defined, because apparently the two are used interchangeably way too often.

This strike is actually a last-resort effort, since negotiations earlier this year failed to work. A vote will be held soon, and if 75% of the members agree to go on strike, that’s what will happen--all members of the union will be barred from performing for video games until the industry at large caves.

How bad would that be? Actually, it would be pretty awful, since a lot of gaming's bigger names in voice actors are a part of that organization, and have spoken out in favor of this strike.

Now, I know a lot of people are thinking these actors are just being greedy, but hey--acting might not be the hardest part of game development, but it ain’t easy, and let’s face it, not everyone can do it. Bad voice acting can ruin a game, while good voice acting can be its saving grace, and pay is based on how valuable you are, not how hard you work, so yeah--they absolutely can demand more for their work.

If we actually want them to strike, on the other hand… well… Nintendo will be okay if nothing else.