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The voiceover actors who work in the video game industry are now on strike against 11 companies, including the biggest names in the field.
Negotiations broke down after almost two years between the companies and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Arts, the union known as SAG-AFTRA. As is often the case with labor disputes, the issue at hand is compensation.
To sort through the strike and get a peek into that industry, we called Sarah Needleman, a writer with the Wall Street Journal. She explained the reason behind the work stoppage.
The union is asking for actors to receive additional pay, on top of the industry standard, that would be based on the portion of revenue that comes from game sales. The more popular games, the more money they would make.
Needleman said actors get paid a minimum of $825 for a four-hour session. But when they are acting or reading parts for a session, they don't always know if they're reading for a low-budget game or a huge franchise like "Call of Duty."
If they knew this ahead of time, the argument is that they would be able to negotiate a better baseline salary, above that $825 minimum.
The union is arguing for more transparency regarding the roles its members perform, but it's not certain if gaming companies will comply, given the strict culture of secrecy surrounding their products. But, she says companies have shown a willingness to be accommodating on some fronts.
One of the proposals that the union has made, that the video game companies have been pretty supportive of, is additional efforts to protect their voices. They certainly are an instrument and if you're screaming [as part of a role] ... you can imagine that [after] having to do that for a couple of hours, you can barely talk.
All in all, Needleman says it might be too soon to tell if the strike will have much of an effect, given that games can often take several years to be completed.
It's not expected to have an immediate impact. The games that are coming out in the next few months for the holidays, those are completely done and will not be impacted. This could be something that consumers hear about more in the future [if the strike is prolonged].