Video games are known for being packed with action — running, jumping, tumbling and shouting, and of course it takes members hundreds of hours in the recording booth and doing performance capture to bring them to life. But what isn’t so evident is all the action going on behind the scenes at the negotiating table, at industry events and in the SAG-AFTRA Contracts Department long before those performers start their workday.
SAG-AFTRA members who work in video games have been in negotiations for more than a year with major video game companies on the Interactive Media Agreement. As of this writing, the companies continue to be unwilling to offer a fair deal — but, led by Chair Sarah Elmaleh, the Interactive Negotiating Committee is holding the line to ensure members get the contractual protections they deserve.
Nearly all the issues between the union and the game companies have already been resolved, but a sticking point remains: The companies want to exclude certain members from A.I. protections — and that’s a deal-breaker.
“We can’t leave out some performers; we have to cover all performers who are all subject to the same vulnerabilities and exploitation by this technology,” said Elmaleh.
“When you think about it, there’s really no rational reason why [performance capture and stunts are] somehow not deserving of protection with respect to A.I. tools when the voice performance is,” said National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “It feels just like an attempt to try and evade reasonable protections for people who are putting their heart and soul into these performances.
“They deserve to have that basic protection to know that in doing that performance for that game, they are not ending their own career ... by handing over their performance, their face, their voice, their likeness to a company that can just do whatever they want with it in perpetuity ... There is no deal to be made that leaves some of our members behind.”
In response to the game companies’ intransigence, the union started preparing for the next step by sending a strike authorization to members in September 2023, which was overwhelmingly approved, with a 98% yes vote.
“It’s time for the video game companies to stop playing games and get serious about reaching an agreement on this contract,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher when members authorized the strike. “The result of this vote shows our membership understands the existential nature of these negotiations, and that the time is now for these companies — which are making billions of dollars and paying their CEOs lavishly — to give our performers an agreement that keeps performing in video games as a viable career.”
While A.I. protections are at the heart of the disagreement in negotiations, the conversation around A.I. itself isn’t new to SAG-AFTRA. The union understands that emerging technologies can have a significant impact on members’ work, and has been leading the effort to ensure that labor has a seat at the table. That’s why SAG-AFTRA created the Labor Innovation & Technology Summit, which takes place during CES. While no one — not even the companies that create it — knows how A.I. tech will be employed in the future, being involved from the very beginning puts the union ahead of the game when it comes to understanding the kinds of protections members may need.
This item originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA spring 2024 magazine issue.