Video Game Voice Actors Voting on a Strike with #PerformanceMatters

If things don't change in interactive media, our video games might start sounding very different. Right now, video game voice actors are voting in a general ballot with SAG-AFTRA, the actors union that covers TV and Film, on the issue of a "strike in the field of Interactive (Video Game) Media."

To that end, the #PerformanceMatters hashtag on twitter is trending, buzzing with both fans showing support and performers talking about their craft (and their votes). The hashtag #IAmOnBoard2015 has also been used to show support.

Actors like William Salyers from Mass Effect 3, Grey Griffin from Batman: Arkham Knight, Mortal Kombat X, and about 400 other video game and TV projects you'd recognize her from, Erin Fitzgerald from World of Warcraft, D.C. Douglas from the Resident Evil and The Last Of Us franchise and many more have tweeted their support, often with an image of their ballot card or virtual ballot being cast - all saying "yes" to the strike.

The vote comes on the heels of a "Performance Matters" panel at Long Beach Comic Con on September 12, 2015, where a collection of actors talked about their craft. The general idea is that unfair contracts have been asked for by producers in the video game industry, and now to the point that voice actors have to use the organized union to negotiate further.

Voice actors have become a much more integral part of the video game process as technology has continued to improve. Games now are produced with more similarities to feature films than to the games of old. Bloops and Bleeps are replaced by intricate dialogue that includes the player character and the people they interact with. Video games have budgets that equal and even surpass the major releases of the summer movies schedule. Some games, like massively multiplayer online games that are in large, persistent worlds, have literally millions of dialogue recorded by voice actors.

The SAG-AFTRA website notes that they've been working on a renegotiation of the Interactive Media Agreement since February 2, 2015. A second meeting on June 23, 2015 was met with no agreement. They met with EA Games, Activision, Disney, Warner Bros, and smaller studios as well. From the website:

"As you might know, the Interactive Media Agreement was first negotiated by SAG and AFTRA in the mid-1990s, and this agreement is still the template we use today despite radical changes in what we are required to do on set and in the recording studio. We're looking to bring this long-standing agreement into the 21st Century by addressing the following issues, which were arrived at after extensive one-on-one, small group and big meeting interactions and discussions with members like you."

We have reached out to SAG-AFTRA for more details on the ongoing negotiations.