Video Game Performers Strike Deal with 80 Games on AI Terms

After a strike lasting over a month, video game performers have secured agreements with 80 games that have signed interim or tiered budget deals with their union and accepted the sought-after artificial intelligence provisions.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) initiated the strike in July after negotiations with major game industry companies, which had been ongoing for more than a year and a half, stalled over AI protections. Union leaders expressed concerns that AI could replicate the likenesses of game voice actors and motion capture artists without their consent or fair compensation.

SAG-AFTRA announced on Thursday that agreements have been reached with 80 individual video games, allowing performers affected by the work stoppage to resume work on those projects. However, the strike against other major video game publishers, including Disney, Warner Bros.' gaming divisions, and Electronic Arts Productions Inc., will persist.

The interim agreement ensures wage increases, safeguards against the "exploitative uses" of artificial intelligence, and safety measures addressing the physical and vocal stress of performances. Meanwhile, the tiered budget agreement is designed to make it easier for independent game developers and smaller-budget projects to work with union talent, while also extending the protections outlined in the interim agreement to performers.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, said in a statement that companies signing the agreements are “helping to preserve the human art, ingenuity and creativity that fuels interactive storytelling.”

“These agreements signal that the video game companies in the collective bargaining group do not represent the will of the larger video game industry,” Crabtree-Ireland continued. “The many companies that are happy to agree to our AI terms prove that these terms are not only reasonable, but feasible and sustainable for businesses.”

On Wednesday, the union announced that game development studio Lightspeed L.A. has agreed to produce both current and future games, including the popular title “Last Sentinel,” under the union’s interim agreement. This means the studio can continue working with union talent while the strike continues.