Video game performers have been on strike since July 26, 2024, and negotiations remain “far apart,” according to the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and Interactive Media Negotiating Committee chair Sarah Elmaleh jointly sent out a letter to members on Tuesday, sharing an update on bargaining. The sticking point continues to be the use of artificial intelligence and the use of “digital replicas” of video game actors.
Zenless Zone Zero voice actors replaced as union negotiation remains ‘far apart’ on AI protections
“They want to use all past performances and any performance they can source from outside the contract without any of the protections being bargained at all,” Crabtree-Ireland and Elmaleh wrote. “You could be told nothing about your replica being used, offered nothing in the way of payment, and you could do nothing about it. They want to be able to make your replica continue to work, as you, during a future strike, whether you like it or not. And once you’ve given your specific consent for how your replica can be used, they refuse to tell you what they actually did with it.”
Per the strike rules, video game performers can continue work on games that were already in production as of Aug. 25, 2024 — so living games, like Zenless Zone Zero and Apex Legends are technically fair game. But some companies, like Riot Games’ League of Legends, are explicitly struck due to alleged bad behavior from the company it uses to hire voice actors, Formosa Interactive. Formosa Interactive is one of several companies bargaining with SAG-AFTRA as a group; Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Insomniac Games, and several more are also part of the group.
However, voice actors and other video game performers — even those not in the union — may withhold their labor in solidarity, even from projects not technically struck. That’s what happened to at least two Zenless Zone Zero voice actors who who replaced due to their unwillingness to work on a project not covered by SAG-AFRA’s interim agreement, which would ensure the AI protections the union is currently fighting for.
“I was replaced as Soldier 11 because I am unwilling to perform work not covered by a SAG Interim Agreement during a strike for AI protection, the outcome of which will determine the future of our industry,” Emeri Chase, who voiced Soldier 11, wrote on BlueSky. Nicholas Thurkettle, who voiced Lycaon, said on BlueSky he made a “personal choice,” and has since been replaced, too. Thurkettle said in a separate post that he learned about the replacement when the Zenless Zone Zero update went live. “I share your shock,” he wrote. Several other voice actors were placed in August, but it was never confirmed as to why.
Chase told worldnetgames on Wednesday that they can’t “in good conscience” work on a game that’s not covered by SAG-AFTRA’s interim or tiered agreements, noting that the strike is “probably the most important one the game industry has ever had.
“While there are many non-union projects that do offer AI protection clauses in their contracts, if a company were to violate these contracts, or if a different company altogether were to pull clips from the internet and train AI on them, it would be up to the actor to pay for the legal services necessary to fight that battle. I can’t speak for every single actor, but most of us don’t have the money sitting around to do that at a moment’s notice,” they said. “Those are the only contracts right now that adequately protect my control over my own voice by putting SAG-AFTRA’s legal team in my corner should anything go wrong.”
HoYoverse, which makes Zenless Zone Zero, has opted to leave several of its characters unvoiced in English due to voice actors being unavailable during the strike. When a Genshin Impact update when live in October, the silence was noticeable. But the SAG-AFTRA strike is also impacting other video games across the industry: In February, some Destiny 2 characters were unvoiced, too. However, like HoYoverse with Zenless Zone Zero, Activision Blizzard reportedly chose to replace a couple voice actors on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
As the strike continues, and more new video games enter production, the impact of the strike could increase. The impact of AI use in video games may increase, too: Voice actor Mika Nerida took to X on Tuesday to accuse indie game Castle of Secrets developer Serene Questworks of replacing all its voice actors with “AI-trained voices.” A day prior, The Verge published a report on Sony Interactive Entertainment prototyping “an AI-powered version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West.” The video doesn’t seem to show AI Aloy using voice actor Ashly Burch’s voice, but the technology is, potentially, an example of the sort of usage SAG-AFTRA is looking for clarity on. (worldnetgames has reached out to Sony and Burch for clarification on the voice acting in the demo.) Nvidia, too, is working on similar technology. Even outside of SAG-AFTRA parameters, video game voice actors want protections: The entire French Apex Legends cast reportedly declined to sign a contract with Respawn Entertainment that would allow the company to use voices to train AI.
SAG-AFTRA published a chart that plainly lays out how negotiations with the video game companies is going, showing the back-and-forth between the two groups on AI usage; the two have agreed on most other proposals. The largest AI issues are around “digital replicas,” which the video game companies want to define as performances that are “objectively identifiable” as the actor; the union says most of their work doesn’t apply there, so its looking to include language that ensures a contracts identifies an actor in a role. Then, the union wants to protect actors from digital replicas built using work created before the new contract goes into effect. That protection, too, is of dispute; the union wants transparency, compensation, usage rules — giving actors the right to consent to usage for a set timeframe, to know how their voices are used, then to be compensated for it.
Chase, the Zenless Zone Zero voice actor, called the companies’ responses “absolutely insane.”
“Every single actor [is] at risk of having their voice stolen from past union work, past non-union work, video content creation, or interviews,” they said. “This is no longer a fight for fair wages, this is a fight for bodily autonomy and the right to our own voices.”
Audrey Cooling, a representative for the companies negotiating with SAG-AFTRA, provided a statement outlining the companies’ take on the negotiations. “We have proposed a deal that includes wage increases of over 15% for SAG-AFTRA represented performers in video games, as well as enhanced health and safety protections, industry-leading terms of use for AI digital replicas in-game and additional compensation for the use of an actor’s performance in other games,” she said. “We have made meaningful progress and are eager to return to the bargaining table to reach a deal.”
Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from the video game companies involved in the SAG-AFTRA negotiations, as well as from Zenless Zone Zero voice actor Emeri Chase.
