SAG-AFTRA Reaches Agreement With Game Companies, Ends Strike

For the past few months, we’ve seen some great games make the rounds into our game consoles – [...]

By ComicBook.com Staff

SAG

For the past few months, we've seen some great games make the rounds into our game consoles – but there was something missing. That something was voice acting from the people part of the SAG-AFTRA union, as they went on strike nearly a year ago against 11 video game companies. Their voices have been sorely missed.

But that strike looks to be coming to an end, as the group has announced that it's reached a "tentative agreement" to end the strike on the 11 game companies. The following terms were made as part of the agreement:

  • A new bonus structure that "provides an addition payment to performers."
  • This payment, which must be delivered no later than a game's release date, is calculated by the number of recording sessions an actor worked on a title.
  • It starts with a $75 payment for the first session and runs up to $2,100 after 10 sessions.

With that, the actors will be paid at least $100 an hour as part of the deal.

"This is an important advance in this critical industry space. We secured a number of gains including for the first time, a secondary payment structure which was one of the members' key concerns," SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris noted in a statement. "The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together."

The structure will also provide voice actors with a "significantly larger" bonus payment set-up under the terms of the previous agreement.

Meanwhile, Scott Witlin, who serves as the chief negotiator for the game companies, noted that his team "worked hard to reach this deal and end the strike.

"The new contract provides a substantial pay increase for performers through both increases in session fees and additional compensation tied to a performer's contribution to the video game," reads a line from the video game companies' statement. "In addition, the Video Game Companies agreed to additional transparency in bookings and to continue to cooperate with SAG-AFTRA in the area of safety, including vocal stress."

The contract will reportedly stay in place for three years, and we'll see how things go from there.

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