SAG-AFTRA & Video Game Biz To Resume Contract Talks In Effort To Avoid New Strike

It’s been nearly three weeks since SAG-AFTRA’s talks with the video game industry broke off, but a power-up is on the horizon. The union said today that negotiations for a new Interactive Media Agreement will continue. But as for when — stay tuned.

Bargaining “will continue with new dates to be released as soon as they are determined,” SAG-AFTRA said. The union’s 160,000-strong membership voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize a strike against 10 of the major video game companies.

Many of the issues involved in the union’s three-month film and TV strike are common to those in the video game contract, including wages and artificial intelligence.

News of the videogame talks renewal comes two days after SAG-AFTRA’s national executive chairman Duncan Crabtree-Ireland was at New York Comic Con to discuss the AI issue and its threat to voice performers in video games.

“We can stand up and say this is the kind of world we want to live in,” he told the NYCC crowd on Saturday. “This is the kind of content we want, which is authentic content that’s not made by ripping people off, whether it’s voices or images or anything else. That is within our power. All we have to do is say no and stand up and stand together.”

The 10 companies facing a possible strike are:

Activision Productions Inc.,
Blindlight LLC,
Disney Character Voices Inc.,
Electronic Arts Productions Inc.,
Epic Games, Inc.,
Formosa Interactive LLC,
Insomniac Games Inc.,
Take 2 Productions Inc.,
VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and
WB Games Inc.