Following a “tentative agreement” reached last month between video game voice actors represented by union SAG-AFTRA and companies including Activision, Insomniac, and EA, the 11-month strike is now over. A new contract has been approved, “effective immediately”. with 95% of participating union members voting in favour, with 5% opposed.
The terms of the Interactive Media Agreement include increased performer compensation, including overtime rates, and “guardrails” against AI – “including consent and disclosure requirements for A.I. digital replica use and the ability for performers to suspend consent for the generation of new material during a strike”.
“We are pleased that SAG-AFTRA members have ratified a new Interactive Media Agreement, which delivers historic wage increases, industry-leading A.I. protections, and enhanced health and safety measures for performers,” said spokesperson Audrey Cooling, “on behalf of the video game producers that are party to the agreement”.
Those enhanced health and safety measures, as Game Developer note, mean trained medical staff will need to be present at rehearsals and performances that plan “hazardous actions or working conditions”. Employers also won’t be able to request actors do dangerous stunts in auditions, and performers will have mandated rests.
In terms of AI protections, the new contract will ensure performers receive specified minimum payments for use of digital replicas made from their performances, higher compensation from the use of chatbots based on their performances, and payments when their performances are used in future projects.
Last January, SAG-AFTRA struck a deal with the now-closed Replica Studios to allow voice actors to license ‘digital replicas’ of their likenesses and voices. “We have achieved fully informed consent and fair compensation when it comes to the use of our members’ voices and performances,” said the union’s director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland at the time, with union’s announcement calling the move “approved by affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community”.
This drew criticism from several prominent actors, including Deux Ex: Human Revolution’s Elias Toufexis. “I would humbly consider myself one of the top voice actors working in games,” the actor said back then, “No one asked me about this. No one reached out for my opinion. From what I’m seeing, no one asked any of my peers either.”
The Interactive Media Agreement classifies these “Digital Replicas” as either “Vocal” or “Visual”, defined as being capable of “algorithmically generating new performances” in the voice or likeness of a specific performer. The now-ratified contract requires clear consent from performers, including knowledge of a “reasonably specific description of intended use”, specifying things like genre, profanity, violent or sexual content, stunts, and whether the performer will be reprising a specific role.
There’s also this bit, which I’m sure is necessary, but also makes for some fascinatingly grim reading.
4) Deceased Performers:
(a) Consent that Performers grant during their lifetimes shall continue to be valid after death unless explicitly limited otherwise at the time of the initial consent.
(b) If Performer is deceased at the time Employer seeks consent, Employer shall obtain the consent of the authorized representative (e.g., their estate).
(c) If the deceased Performer’s authorized representative cannot be identified or located, consent may be obtained from the Union.
While the contract is largely being celebrated as a victory for union members, SAG-AFTRA has received criticism from actors for allegedly prolonging the negotiations process after the sought-for AI protections were in place, making it difficult for performers to get work.
My favourite characterisation I’ve read of these fairly dry stipulations was Chris Kerr’s over at Game Developer, who points out that performers now effectively have the ability to send their digital replicas on strike. If James Earl Jones called me a scab I’d probably cry.
