Hot Strike Summer 2024: Here’s Why SAG-AFTRA is Striking Video Game Companies

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | August 7, 2024 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | August 7, 2024 |

Last Summer, the entertainment industry came to a standstill when both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike for several months. The two unions, who represent tens of thousands of workers employed across film and television, were protesting the major studios’ failure to offer full compensation for work done, the dwindling state of residuals in the streaming age, and the impending scourge of AI. The WGA strike lasted 148 days, making it the second-longest labour stoppage in their history, while SAG-AFTRA went on for 118 days. The impact on the business was seismic, and it may take the studios years to truly recover from the mess they made.

The struggle is, alas, not over. The entertainment world is still eager to screw over as many above- and below-the-line workers as possible, especially as they view the magic of the generative AI plagiarism machine as the stopgap for all of their problems. We’ve seen guilds like IATSE, which represents behind-the-scenes workers on stage and screen, ratify their newest three-year deal, despite some concerns from members over AI rules. Now, SAG-AFTRA is back on the picket line for a new round of Hot Strike Summer. This time, they’re doing it for video games.

At 12:01 am on July 26, 2024, SAG-AFTRA called for a labour strike against all major video game companies signed to their Interactive Media Agreement. This includes brands like Activision, Electronic Arts, Insomniac Games, Warner Bros. Games, and Disney Character Voices. 98.32% of members voted in favour of the strike. According to the Los Angeles Times, around 2,600 SAG-AFTRA members employed in the video game industry in various ways are now on strike. That includes voice actors, motion-capture performers, singers, stunt workers, extras, and stand-in work. The last time game actors went on strike was in October 2016.

While there are other goals for the union, like better safety measures for physical performers, the strike largely hinges on one matter: AI. The technology has already been implemented across the video game development world. Wired reported last month that major companies like Activision Blizzard were already laying off workers and implementing generative AI tools in areas like marketing and concept art. That company has already been selling AI-generated cosmetics for the Call of Duty franchise, while Microsoft laid off over 1,900 employees at the beginning of the year, many of whom were 2D artists.

As it pertains to performers, the threat of AI has never been more tangible. Some studios are experimenting with tools that can clone voices and generate dialogue from text inputs. Many actors are fearful that they could lose the legal rights to their own likenesses, and that companies could use them in perpetuity for projects they didn’t sing up for or receive compensation to be a part of. Some have already been forced to deal with this existential threat as they discover that their voices have already been uploaded to various sites for use.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement, ‘We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.’

This strike is getting a lot less media attention because it doesn’t impact as huge a swath of the business as last year’s one did, and because a lot of the trades don’t have much knowledge and/or respect for video games. Actors who make their living in the field are frequently viewed as lesser compared to their film and TV counterparts, even as major stars like Norman Reedus and Elliot Page put on the tights and act for games. That makes it easy to overlook just how major an employer this industry is and also how straight-up evil they are.

Companies like Activision make David Zaslav look like a benevolent saint. Bobby Kotick, who was the CEO of Activision Blizzard for 22 years, bragged about how the company developed IPs that could be ‘exploited’ and that he would ‘raise the prices even higher’ on already exorbitant games (he later claimed that was a joke, but charging upwards of $60 per release is now the norm.) He was also sued for sexual harassment in 2007 and later oversaw the company as it faced a major workplace misconduct and discrimination lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The Wall Street Journal claimed that Kotick had known about the allegations of misconduct for years but failed to take action.

The video game world is overwhelmed by bad business practices and mistreatment of employees. Crunch culture, wherein staff work well beyond the usual hours, often 60 - 90 hours a week, plagues the industry and has led to massive amounts of burnout and mental health issues. They’re seldom fully compensated for this rush, and the ensuing work is often compromised as a result. For actors, there aren’t a lot of safety protections for those doing physical stunts for mo-cap, and non-union workers are often brought in for a fraction of the price. And, to make it all the sh*ttier, video game actors do not get residuals in the same way that film and TV actors do. These games can make billions of dollars and they won’t see a cent of those grosses. On October 25, 2023, Activision Blizzard had a market cap of $74.2 billion.

Last week, actors picketed outside WB Games in Burbank. As voice actor Ted Evans told Variety, ‘They’re calling the information data — our movement, our voice, the way we talk. For them, it’s just data. For us, it’s our hopes and dreams and life purposes… It’s basically taking everything we have and throwing us in the garbage.’ It’s rhetoric that drives home how the corporate powers behind the entertainment industry see everyone and everything as mere content. Studios want to make everyone a piece of data to be mined, and preferably for as little money as possible. Even if the product suffers as a result of this dehumanizing cost-cutting and audiences reject it, they’ll keep doing it until it becomes financially unfeasible for them to continue. This is why we strike: because change doesn’t happen without this kind of disruption. So shine on, hot strike summer. Give ‘em hell.