Following the news on Lightspeed LA Signs SAG-AFTRA Interim Interactive Media Agreement to employ union talent in Last Sentinel (and future games), the organization is celebrating a “big win” in announcing 80 games followed suit. The interim agreements allow unionized workers to work during the broader strike, which has been ongoing since July.
In a statement provided by the union, Studio Wildcard development director Jeremy Stieglitz said, “Studio Wildcard partners with production company Noah Protocol for all of our SAG-AFTRA member video game voice recordings, across ARK Survival Evolved and beyond. SAG-AFTRA has allowed us to work with top-tier talent using standardized union agreements, which has been a huge benefit to the quality and consistency of voice work in our games.”
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “We applaud the video game companies that have signed our tiered and interim budget agreements. They are not only doing the right thing for their workers, they are also helping to preserve the human artistry, ingenuity and creativity that fuel interactive storytelling. These agreements signal that the video game companies in the collective bargaining group do not represent the will of the broader video game industry. The many companies that are happy to accept our AI terms demonstrate that these terms are not only reasonable, but also doable and sustainable for companies.”
The union's statement also includes a note saying that some games that aren't actually covered by the strike order have “voluntarily signed the agreements,” including some projects that have ended production and signed the interim agreement to “protect past and future performance.”
THE the union has authorized the strike on July 26after negotiations stalled without an agreement. As is evident in the quotes above and in our report on the strike, the main concern of the members (and a major reason for the strike itself) is securing protections against the use of unethical genAI practices. Artists are essentially concerned that developers could use assets recorded from a performance without the artist's consent or future compensation, creating a profound chilling effect on labor.
The Interim Interactive Media Agreement signed by dozens of developers provides such protections.
What is the difference between this SAG-AFTRA strike and the 2017 strike?
SAG-AFTRA’s success in getting these deals signed shows that the union has learned a lot from its previous strike in 2017. At the time, the union was struggling to push the bargaining table, apparently because it didn’t have the capacity to slow down production that it could in TV and film. Actors were putting themselves out of work while development continued.
Now, the union is proving it can employ its workers under the new contract, and studios must decide whether refusing to negotiate will have the same power as before. Is it worth losing talent like Roger Craig Smith or Debra Wilson to competitors who signed AI protections you’re quibbling about?
They will be the ones to decide.