A nearly year-long battle between SAG-AFTRA game actors and the major publishers over AI protections for performances is set to end, after both sides reached a tentative agreement this week. Details of the deal haven’t yet been released, but the union says it includes “necessary AI guardrails” as companies adopt tools to copy, replicate, and alter the work of actors.
The 10 companies involved in the agreement are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Epic Games Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. SAG-AFTRA says more about the deal will be shared after members vote to ratify it in the coming weeks. The two sides are still hashing out the terms of the strike suspension agreement, however, so actors will remain on strike for a little longer.
“Everyone at SAG-AFTRA is immensely grateful for the sacrifices made by video game performers and the dedication of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee throughout these many months of the video game strike,” SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a press release. “Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary A.I. guardrails that defend performers’ livelihoods in the A.I. age, alongside other important gains.”
The strike began last July, and while it involved demands for pay raises and better onsite working conditions, the biggest sticking point throughout negotiations was the role AI might play in voice recording and performance capture. While actors are currently paid on a session by session basis for specific performances, AI models would make it easy for companies to take that data and replicate an actor’s voice or movements, either altering their creative output or replacing it altogether.
Back in March, Ashly Burch who plays Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn shared her concerns about AI replacing actors after an internal tech demo at Sony showed an AI-controlled Aloy having a conversation with a player. SAG-AFTRA recently filed an unfair labor practice against Epic Games for using an AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite while still in negotiations. Meanwhile, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has said he foresees a possible future in which all NPCs are AI-controlled.
As the strike continued throughout last fall and into 2025, actors in some games saw themselves replaced by other artists in projects like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Zenless Zone Zero, as game companies sought to continue releasing updates. Games like Destiny 2, meanwhile, simply left some characters completely silent who would have otherwise voiced dialogue. Some SAG-AFTRA actors voiced their frustration with the duration of the strike in recent weeks.
“I hope SAG-AFTRA is aware that, either intentionally or through negligence, an environment has been created around IMA negotiations whereby it is impossible to express a good-faith disagreement without being dismissed as anti-union, a management shill, or both,” voice actor William Salyers, who voiced Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2, wrote on Threads last week. “The damage being done by this will persist long after the strike is settled.” Jennifer Hale, best known as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, added, “Vilifying those differences only divides the community.”
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