Voice actors strike slows video game production

Voice actors from well-known games strike to demand better conditions.

On October 19th, a voice actor strike began that may affect some popular video game companies. You may be familiar with the voices of some voice actors from your favorite games, and recently they’ve shared their dissatisfaction with the way they are treated by game publishers.      

Many do more than voices, they also do motion capture to capture the movements of the body for some scenes in the game. Companies such as Activision Publishing Inc., Electronic Arts Productions, Inc., and Take-Two Interactive Software are a part of this strike.

Voice actors who are a main component in your daily game play are dissatisfied with the way they are being treated by these big name game companies. According to a PlaystationLifeStyle.net article, an interview with Overwatch voice actor Crispin Freeman sheds light on the reality of what voice actors are hoping for. Freeman explains, “A tiny bit of shared prosperity because right now, they treat us like we don’t matter.” He then states that the video game industry goes as far as making sure that the voice actors feel like they aren’t truly a part of the game.

To justify that statement, Freeman went on to say that publishers have explicitly told voice actors during negotiations that they don’t matter and that voices and motion capture are just a tiny part of an overall project, but can you imagine your favorite video game with only ambient music playing in the background? Or a video game campaign, a separate-mostly single player game play experience, with little to no human voice interactions?

The video game voice actor union, SAG-AFTRA, is hoping for better working conditions, including fewer hours, coaches for motion capture performers and higher compensation based off of video game sales.

Now, although this strike will not affect games currently in production, it may slow down production of future expansions of current games. Your favorite games will still come out, however, it’s important to remember everyone who works hard to put out the video games you play