The strike of video game actors has a 50% chance of happening, according to the director of the SAG-AFTRA union, because they cannot reach an agreement over AI.
The strike of Hollywood actors that paralyzed hundreds of filming between June 27 and November 8, 2023 could also be repeated in the video game industry. The director of SAG-AFTRA, the main actors' union in North America that covers film and TV but also video games, gives “50% chance of happening“.
In September, SAG-AFTRA members voted with 98% approval to authorize a strike against studios such as Activision, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Take Two o WB Games. Nothing else came out since then, but because negotiations have continued between the union and these companies.
Duncan Crabtree-Irelanddirector of SAG-AFTRA, said last Saturday in a debate on AI that he sees “a 50-50 chance, or more, that we will go on strike in the next four or six weeks, because of our inability to overcome these problems” ( via Variety).
Video game actors could go on strike, and AIs are to blame
“We don't want to go on strike,” Crabtree-Ireland said, “but we're not going to make a deal with these companies that don't protect our members from abusive and exploitative uses of AI.”
The protection of film and TV actors against the use of AI was one of the main reasons for the previous strike, and is also an obstacle in the case of video games, where, also, being a technological industry, the use of Artificial Intelligence is more rooted in video game development.
This has generated discussion among SAG-AFTRA's nearly 160,000 members. Some ask that the use of AI is prohibited in the production of any work covered by the union, but Crabtree-Ireland does not see this as realistic.
“We would not have succeeded, nor has any union in history been able to stop technology,” he said. “Unions that try that approach fail and miss the opportunity to influence how those technologies are implemented. The fact is that we are going to have AI.”
Its objective, therefore, is “consent and compensation“for actors when AI technologies use their work. “We want to make sure that the implementation is people-centered and focused on increasing production, not replacing people.”
If they manage to reach an agreement, we will know in a matter of 4-6 weeks, which is the period that the director of SAG-AFTRA waits for an agreement to be reached with the Activision, EA, Ubisoft and Takes-Twos of the industry, or else there will be a strike. Although some games like GTA 6 “They are protected” in the event of a strike, said Strauss Zelnick.