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Screen Actor's Guild Reaches Deal With Game Publishers, Ends Strike

A new bonus structure agreement ends the strike against 11 game companies that has persisted since October 2016.

Charles Singletary Jr

September 25, 2017 2:55 PM

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Announced in a press release today, the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG-AFTRA) has finally reached an agreement to end the strike that first began October 21, 2016. Sadly, there's no mention of voice actors receiving any sort of compensation related to the performance of the games they work on.

“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,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris in the press release. "The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together."

The tentative agreement includes a bonus structure that provides additional pay based on the number of sessions worked on each game. It starts with $75 payment on the first and could total $2,100 after 10 sessions are worked. These new bonuses are said to be significantly larger than the bonuses provided under the original agreement and other changes in this deal include improvements in transparency. 

“The new transparency provisions will enhance the bargaining power of our members’ representatives by requiring the companies to disclose the code name of project, its genre, whether the game is based on previously published intellectual property and whether the performer is reprising a prior role,” said Ray Rodriguez, Chief Contract Officer of SAG-AFTRA. “Members are also protected by the disclosure of whether they will be required to use unusual terminology, profanity or racial slurs, whether there will be content of a sexual or violent nature and whether stunts will be required.”

Vocal stress was another one of the major points brought up when the strike commenced and the new deal includes language that says employers will continue to work with SAG-AFTRA during the term of the new agreement. The contract will be reviewed by the SAG National Board in October.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.