Video Game Actors Strike Continues as SAG-AFTRA Extends Contract Negotiations

SAG-AFTRA‘s strike against major video game publishers will continue, as the actors union has extended contract negotiations with the employers. This comes after an inability to resolve the ongoing dispute over its Interactive Media Agreement after three days of scheduled talks concluded this week.

Per SAG-AFTRA, the new dates for returning to the table with the video game companies’ bargaining committee will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.

Prior to returning to the table with the corporate gaming side Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA announced more than 120 video game titles had signed either SAG-AFTRA’s proposed Interim Media Agreement or the indie developer-focused Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Agreement, as the strike is largely handled on a title by title basis rather than studio by studio.

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According to the union, “The SAG-AFTRA strike against all signatories to the Interactive Media Agreement began in July and remains in effect. No further comment is available at this time.”

Companies included in the video game companies’ bargaining committee are Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions and WB Games.

The ongoing sticking point between SAG-AFTRA and the companies, which have reached agreement on 24 items in a 25-item proposal, surrounds uses of generative A.I. in games, particularly in regard to motion and performance capture.

SAG-AFTRA executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland previously told Variety that the reasoning given by video game publishers as to why they cannot agree to the A.I. language regarding motion and performance capture is unfounded. Publishers argue that motion capture work is largely used as an amalgamation of actors’ performances in video games and not something producers are capable of accounting for when it comes to compensation.

At that time, Crabtree-Ireland also said that while a holiday season boycott of the gaming companies has not been called, that option is “a tool that’s in our toolkit” for the SAG-AFTRA side as the strike continues.