While SAG-AFTRA and its actors already have one strike underway against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), it is now seeking a second strike that would go against major video game companies for how they treat their performers.
As reported by Variety, SAG-AFTRA has said the negotiations toward a new video game contract have reached a “stalemate” and that a strike would be the next best step to “win wage increases and protection from artificial intelligence.”
SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with companies like Activision Productions, Electronic Arts Productions, Insomniac Games, Epic Games, WB Games, and more was set to expire on November 7, 2022, but the two parties agreed to extend the talks another year. As of this writing, the talks between the two parties will resume on September 26.
SAG-AFTRA is looking for “an 11% retroactive increase in rates for video game performers, followed by increases of 4% and 4%.” This is in line with the asks SAG-AFTRA has given the AMPTP. It also includes the previously mentioned protections from AI which the union says threatens both voice and performance capture artists. Furthermore, SAG-AFTRA wants rest periods, safety protections, an on-set medic, and a “prohibition against stunts during self-taped auditions.”
“Once again artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work. And once again, SAG-AFTRA is standing up to tyranny on behalf of its members,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said after calling out the gaming companies for their “greed and disrespect.”
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the gaming companies, released a statement saying they want a fair contract as well.
“We all want a fair contract that reflects the important contributions of SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in an industry that delivers world-class entertainment to billions of players around the world,” Cooling said. “We are negotiating in good faith and hope to reach a mutually beneficial deal as soon as possible.”
The last time SAG-AFTRA went on strike against the gaming companies was in October 2016 and it lasted 11 months.
For more, check out all the details on SAG-AFTRA’s strike against the AMPTP that was declared on July 13, the Writers Guild of America strike against the AMPTP that began on May 2, and how these strikes may be able to repair the broken streaming world we are living in.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.