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Hollywood\u2019s video game performers announced they would go on strike<\/a> Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over\u00a0artificial intelligence protections.<\/a><\/p>\n The strike \u2014 the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists \u2014 will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly\u00a0two years of negotiations<\/a>\u00a0with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney<\/a> Co., over a new interactive media agreement.<\/p>\n SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the two sides remained split over the regulation of generative AI. A spokesperson for the video game producers, Audrey Cooling, said the studios offered AI protections, but SAG-AFTRA\u2019s negotiating committee said that the studios\u2019 definition of who constitutes a \u201cperformer\u201d is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected.<\/p>\n \u201cThe industry has told us point blank that they do not necessarily consider everyone who is rendering movement performance to be a performer that is covered by the collective bargaining agreement,\u201d SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said some physical performances are being treated as \u201cdata.\u201d<\/p>\n Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor\u2019s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness\u00a0without consent or fair compensation,<\/a>\u00a0the union said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe strike as a matter of last resort. We have given this process absolutely as much time as we responsibly can,\u201d Rodriguez told reporters. \u201cWe have exhausted the other possibilities, and that is why we\u2019re doing it now.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooling said the companies\u2019 offer \u201cextends meaningful AI protections.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Andi Norris, an actor and member of the union\u2019s negotiating committee, said that those who do stunt work or creature performances would still be at risk under the game companies\u2019 offer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe performers who bring their body of work to these games create a whole variety of characters, and all of that work must be covered. Their proposal would carve out anything that doesn\u2019t look and sound identical to me as I sit here, when, in truth, on any given week I am a zombie, I am a soldier, I am a zombie soldier,\u201d Norris said. \u201cWe cannot and will not accept that a stunt or movement performer giving a full performance on stage next to a voice actor isn\u2019t a performer.\u201d<\/p>\n The global video game industry generates well over $100 billion dollars in profit annually, according to game market forecaster\u00a0Newzoo<\/a>. The people who design and bring those games to life are the driving force behind that success, SAG-AFTRA said.<\/p>\n Members voted overwhelmingly last year to give leadership the authority to strike. Concerns about how movie studios will use\u00a0AI helped fuel<\/a>\u00a0last year\u2019s film and television strikes by the union, which lasted four months.<\/p>\n The last interactive contract, which expired in November 2022, did not provide protections around AI but secured a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists after an 11-month strike that began in October 2016. That work stoppage marked the first major labor action from SAG-AFTRA following the merger of Hollywood\u2019s two largest actors unions in 2012.<\/p>\n The video game agreement covers more than 2,500 \u201coff-camera (voiceover) performers, on-camera (motion capture, stunt) performers, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and background performers,\u201d according to the union.<\/p>\n Amid the tense interactive negotiations, SAG-AFTRA created a separate contract in February that covered independent and lower-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media agreement contains some of the protections on AI that video game industry titans have rejected. Games signed to an\u00a0interim interactive media agreement<\/a>,\u00a0tiered-budget independent interactive agreement<\/a>\u00a0or interim interactive localization agreement are not part of the strike, the union said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter:<\/strong> CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n