Hollywood Strike: SAG-AFTRA Asks Members to Vote for Strike Authorization vs. Video Game Firms

Several media reports and analysts say the Hollywood strikes have no end in sight as SAG-AFTRA's national board unanimously voted Friday (September 1) to request members to authorize a strike against 10 video game companies with members voting on the matter beginning Tuesday (September 5).

According to its latest press release, the union said the target companies have "failed to address" its members' needs in relation to on-set protections, artificial intelligence (AI) regulations, and proper wages during contract negotiations. Postcards with instructions on how to vote were sent to eligible members which, if the vote favors the affirmative, could mean a second simultaneous SAG-AFTRA strike.

SAG-AFTRA: Concerns with Video Game Firms Separate but Similar

SAG-AFTRA admitted its agreement with the video game industry was separate from the film and TV studio agreements they have been striking against, but the union stated the issues facing the game development industry were similar, namely, wages and protection from "unrestrained" use of AI.

"Once again, we are facing employer greed and disrespect," SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a statement Friday, pertaining to the 10 target gaming companies and their Interactive Media Agreement between them. "Once again, artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work."

The firms that SAG-AFTRA has an agreement with, which originally expired last November but was extended for another year after the union and companies could not come to an agreement, include Activision, Epic Games, Disney, EA Games, and Warner Bros. Games.

The union is demanding regulation on how AI could be used in performance capture, which is when developers track the movements of trained actors or stunt performers. Performers' actions and expressions are then stored digitally for use in video game animation.

"Unregulated use of AI poses an enormous threat to these artists' professions," the press release added.

Union Seeks Better AI Regulation in Video Games

The union's calls for an improved AI regulation also extended to voice actors working on video games, with SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland arguing that voice and performance capture AI, which is widely available in the market, was already "among the most advanced uses" of AI.

"The threat is here and it is real. Without contractual protections, the employers are asking performers to unknowingly participate in the extinction of their artistry and livelihoods," Crabtree-Ireland added.

The union's negotiator added studios would use AI to manipulate 3D scans of background actors and replace them as a workforce, something the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) denied.

SAG-AFTRA also demanded video game performers be given the same wage increases as film and television performers, the union's statement added.

The union's strike authorization vote came in the midst of a larger push to unionize the video game industry after Sega's US office voted 91-26 in favor of unionizing and Microsoft's Zenimax Studios formed the biggest union in the US games industry late last year.

SAG-AFTRA's national board would resume negotiations with video game companies on September 26, thus the proposal to have a member-approved strike authorization in hand when bargaining resumes.

Voting ends on September 25.