Members of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have voted to authorize a video game strike, with 98.32% of the votes in favor.
Per SAG-AFTRA's announcement, 34,687 members cast ballots, representing 27.47% of eligible voters.
To be clear, this doesn't mean video game performers are going on strike, but it does mean that the union negotiators have the go-ahead from their members to call for one if they feel it necessary when their negotiations with video game companies, including Activision, Disney, EA, Take 2, Insomniac, and WB Games, resume tomorrow. The SAG-AFTRA National Board voted unanimously to send a strike authorization vote to members back on Sept. 1.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said it's time for video game companies "to stop playing games and get serious about reaching an agreement on this contract.”
“The result of this vote shows our membership understands the existential nature of these negotiations, and that the time is now for these companies — which are making billions of dollars and paying their CEOs lavishly — to give our performers an agreement that keeps performing in video games as a viable career," she continued.
Meanwhile, in a statement representing the video game producers negotiating the Interactive Media Agreement, spokesperson Audrey Cooling said, "We will continue to negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement that reflects the important contributions of SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in video games. We have reached tentative agreements on over half of the proposals and are optimistic we can find a resolution at the bargaining table.”
The last time the industry's video game performers went on strike was in 2016 and it would become the longest strike in SAG-AFTRA's history, lasting nearly a year before a new contract was ratified in November 2017. That contract expired in 2020, but was extended to 2022 and then again to 2023. That last extension happened about a year ago, and in voting to send a strike authorization vote to members, SAG-AFTRA said they had been fighting for "critical terms SAG-AFTRA members need."
"Unfortunately, throughout the negotiations, the companies have failed to address those needs," SAG-AFTRA said at the time.
In today's announcement, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that, after "five rounds of bargaining," "it has become abundantly clear that the video game companies aren’t willing to meaningfully engage on the critical issues: compensation undercut by inflation, unregulated use of AI and safety."
As Crabtree-Ireland mentions, the key issues SAG-AFTRA has been raising are protections against AI, wage increases on par with those for film and TV actors, the same five-minutes-per-hour rest period that off-camera performers are entitled to, vocal stress protections, and on-set medics when necessary.
The news comes on the heels of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reaching a tentative deal with Hollywood's studios just last night. It still needs to be ratified by the guild but if it is, it will end the historic five-month strike by the industry's writers.
SAG-AFTRA's film and television performers, however, remain on strike, having not been called to return to the table yet by the group that represents Hollywood's studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). They've been on strike since July, and their fellow union members on the video game side now have the option to join them on the picket lines if union leadership calls for it.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
