Hollywood’s video game performers voted to go on strike Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.
The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement.
SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI. Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.
I fully support them, but it is a sad irony that the dystopian cyberpunk stories they told are starting to come true, and they are probably the protagonists.
What would JC Denton do?
Apparently he would do all three of becoming a cybernetic dictator ruler of the illuminati, while also plunging humanity into a dark age without technology, but also connect them all to one consciousness.
What a shame.
They deserve the best deals and pay, but I do hope ai is implemented in gaming. Massive RPGs would benefit so much from ai generated convos with NPCs and using ai to help make combat and encounters better. You can’t have a voice actor in a studio delivering unlimited dialogue anyways, so it’s not like putting ai in there to do that is a bad idea imo
It’s over for artists of all types saddly
Main voices and significant side characters of the story, I agree. But for some random NPCs that just add to the ambience of the environment, I think A.I can fill those roles. It just would be too cost prohibitive to hire actors for every single character voice. The developers would just not do it or they just repeat the same dialogue over and over again and that gets monotonous.
I say this as a writer who also used to work in videogames.
Aren’t those minor roles exactly how people get their start in voice acting and start building up their resumes? Actors have to have a place to get their start, too.
I’m not talking about what is currently available. I’m talking about the future in gaming. Worlds are growing. You can’t have like 5,000 unique actors in a game world… nor dialogue being written for all of them. The amount of dialogue writers would have to come up with is astronomical.
There will be games where you’ll go to full restaurant and walk around various tables where they’re will be dialogue that means nothing to the story but adds to the environment. Or just random people walking down the street.
Then there will be times where a small side character you approach will give you a side mission… those are the ones you’ll want live actors for.
Game companies will lose money if they had to pay everyone for what the future holds.
Or the alternative would be… They just wouldn’t do it. Same amount of jobs are created. Probably fewer jobs as you wouldn’t need to test as much.
I’m not talking about what is currently available. I’m talking about the future in gaming.
So am I. Where are the future voice actors who wolud voice the major roles going to come from if the jobs they depend on to start out and get their foot in the door/build up their resumes at the beginning of their careers are gone?
The same voice jobs they do now. I am not taking about those type of jobs. And actors should fight for those. I’m talking about where the future of video games are headed.
It will be impossible to do with actors. I don’t care how many voices they can do. It will be impossible to do with writers too. There will just be too much to write.
People just can’t say… AI = bad. It’s a losing battle.
No voice actors, no writers…the future you’re envisioning for gaming completely sucks.
At what point did I ever say no voice actors and no writers? In fact, I said the exact opposite.
Actors can play multiple roles, you know, and often do
Really?
You’re not understanding me, but that’s okay.
I understand that you don’t know how video games are made. But that’s fine.
