As gaming’s biggest names descend on Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater for this year’s Game Awards, they may be met by members of SAG-AFTRA, who are taking the opportunity to put the spotlight on some of the biggest issues facing its interactive media division.
SAG-AFTRA members will be leafleting outside The Game Awards on Thursday, highlighting some of their major concerns as the guild continues to try to reach a new contract with the industry’s publishers. They’ll be leafleting alongside the Game Workers of SoCal (GWSC) as well, who’ve appeared outside of The Game Awards in the past and who will be acknowledging a year of “layoffs, retaliation, crunch, and harassment.”
SAG-AFTRA notes that they’re not picketing, nor are they currently on strike – although a strike does remain on the table, given the authorization vote in September. SAG-AFTRA and video game producers ended their negotiations for a new three-year contract in September without a deal, and while the guild said in October that they were planning to resume talks, we’ve heard little movement since then.
As Sarah Elmaleh, who chairs SAG-AFTRA’s Interactive Media Negotiating Committee, explained in an email to IGN, there’s “three core issues” that have not been “thoroughly resolved”: wage increases, safety needs for movement performers, and ethical AI protections. Elmaleh says that last issue has been the “stickiest” in bargaining.
“We’re not asking for a full prohibition on AI, and we’ve clarified that the use of AI as a convenient way to do conventional post processing and cleanup is completely fine,” she tells IGN. “What actors deserve and what we are asking for is, if you’re intending to use AI to create new performance that a performer didn’t actually perform, that you provide transparency around the intended use, proper informed consent (not written in confusing legalese, buried in a rider), and fair compensation.”
“We think these terms,” she adds, “are reasonable and collaborative, and allow us to partner with developers in stepping into a new paradigm using this technology without improperly exploiting the talent and effort of the professional performer community.”
It’s an issue that SAG-AFTRA and voice actors in particular have been vocal about over the past few months, appearing at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con to shed some light, while others have attempted to put in place guidelines to use the technology ethically. It also was, of course, a major issue in the recently resolved actors’ and writers’ strikes.
Elmaleh also brings up Microsoft’s recent announcement that it’s teaming with InWorld to work on tools for developers to create AI-enhanced characters and more, an announcement that was re-shared by The Game Awards official X/Twitter account. But Elmaleh says the negotiating committee was blindsided by the announcement, which they found “a bit shocking and premature.”
“We have spoken with neither Microsoft nor Inworld, and many of Microsoft’s developer subsidiaries and projects are signed to our Interactive Media Agreement,” she goes on. “So it felt very much like putting the cart before the horse, when labor law dictates that signatories to our union agreement MUST bargain for those AI rights.”
‘An Incredibly Devastating Year’
The messaging from the guild also notes that “our fight isn’t single-player,” and that the effects of AI go far beyond voice actors in video games. But, Elmaleh points out, the actors are the only profession in the video game industry currently that’s unionized, making it easier for them to collectively bargain for frameworks that could impact the entire business.
Plus, it's been an "incredibly devastating year for game developers" in general, with layoffs, reports of toxic workplaces, and much more.
“This year in layoffs has been particularly heartbreaking to witness, and we are leafleting alongside GWSC in solidarity with our developer collaborators,” she says. “Our roles in development may differ but our fight is the same - for well-being and sustainability in our work.”
Elmaleh points out how proud she is of all the nominated teams, including her own – her voice has appeared in nominated games Hi-Fi Rush and Goodbye Volcano High. They all, she says, deserve to be celebrated, and one important way to do that is to push for their protections.
“When human beings thrive on an industry-wide level, we are rewarded with more great games,” she says. “I think it’s apt and correct to discuss these basic needs in the same moment that we lift up the games that inspired and delighted us this year, that we advocate for the people who made them - and those who are still working on all the tantalizing games yet to drop.”
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.
