In an update on the progress of negotiations with video game developers on Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA says the two sides are still “frustratingly far apart,” and so-called artificial intelligence is the culprit.
The guild has been on strike against a consortium of major developers since July.
According to SAG-AFTRA, a recent proposal submitted by the major video game makers was filled with “alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to A.I. abuse.” The union says developers are demanding the right to use “all past performances and any performance they can source from outside the contract without any of the protections being bargained at all” for duplication.
From the guild’s perspective, this means actors “could be told nothing about your replica being used, offered nothing in the way of payment, and you could do nothing about it. They want to be able to make your replica continue to work, as you, during a future strike, whether you like it or not. And once you’ve given your specific consent for how your replica can be used, they refuse to tell you what they actually did with it.”
SAG-AFTRA indicated the video game developers would dispute this characterization, and included a link to a chart laying out what it says are the differences between the two on the issue. Read it here. It also says it has submitted a counter addressing those concerns and is awaiting a response.
If accurate, it means that not much has changed since last summer, when the union went on strike against several large developers, including Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc.
The day the strike went into effect in July, Negotiating Committee chair Sarah Elmaleh and Interactive Agreement lead negotiator Ray Rodriguez explained that among other things, video game industry counteroffers included sizeavle loopholes that would effectively neutralize any protections.
Among them, motion capture performances would only be protected if a video game character actually resembled the actor — which would exclude the majority of video game mo-cap. And voice actors would only be protected if their characters’ voices sounded recognizably like their own.
In addition to closing those loopholes, SAG-AFTRA wants consent and compensation guaranteed for performers for any use of their work in any AI models for video games.
Naturally video game companies dispute this, saying at the time the strike was declared that they were “disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations.”
SAG-AFTRA has different contracts with various smaller developers, and in its update Tuesday touted “great success” with them, asserting that “more than 160 games have now signed on to our interim and independent agreements — and the total earnings of these projects have exceeded that of non-struck games. Those agreements contain the protections we have been asking the bargaining group for — terms that are clearly feasible and acceptable to a great number of game companies of all sizes, even as the bargaining companies resist.”
SAG-AFTRA also told members it will be releasing a Student Interactive Waiver Agreement and Game Jam Waiver Agreement, “both of which will allow developers at every stage of their career to work with SAG-AFTRA members.”
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