Video game actors in the SAG-AFTRA union are currently on strike over concerns about, among other things, artificial intelligence. Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of one of the game companies in the middle of the strike, Take-Two, said recently that he’s “pretty confident” the two sides can make a deal.
“We deeply value our talent relationships, and historically we worked very successfully with all of the unions, including SAG-AFTRA,” Zelnick said during Take-Two’s latest earnings briefing. “We continue to work hard to come to a resolution on this current situation. In fact, we have common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals. So, I’m pretty confident that we can get to a deal that will be mutually beneficial.”
Zelnick went on to say that Take-Two does not expect any impact “whatsoever” for Take-Two’s games that are currently in development. If the strike goes on for a long time, though, this would affect Take-Two and other companies, he said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to find common ground, and that’s certainly our goal,” Zelnick said. Asked if the strike could save Take-Two money due to work stoppages, Zelnick said, “We don’t get any benefit from the situation.”
The strike is limited to games that began production after September 2023– so GTA VI is not affected–while live-service games that have already been released are exempt from the strike as well.
It’s not just Take-Two that’s not worried about the video game strike right now. EA CEO Andrew Wilson recently said the company is “working diligently to negotiate at the table” and hopeful for a resolution.
“We don’t expect any near-term disruption to any of the games we have in development or any of the live services we’re currently running.”
Video game voice actors voted to authorize the strike last September, but only just initiated action as of July 26, after SAG-AFTRA failed to come to an agreement with video game companies. The union has said that AI is a major sticking point in negotiations, and that it wants to ensure fair protections against AI for voice actors.
