Game Companies, Voice Actors Reach Accord

The simmering dispute between the Screen Actors guild and game companies like powerhouse EA has been settled.

Members of SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have given up their demand for now for profit sharing in exchange for a pay increase and extra benefit contributions by game companies to union plans.

The game industry had countered by showing the voice acting parts of a typical game contribute to only a small portion of the game experience. Budgets for new games have been running millions of dollars, and the bulk of that goes toward coding and development.

According to Reuters, the new agreement with the unions will run for three and a half years, and the unions say they will make profit sharing an issue again. They want profit sharing so that voice actors can earn residuals with each game sold, similar to payments made when a TV show is broadcast again.

Video games run roughly equal to Hollywood with annual revenue of around $10 billion USD. Actors of note have contributed their voices to some games; in fact, some actors are required to participate in games tied to their movies.

Heads of both unions expressed their reluctance to sign this agreement, and said they would attempt to make profit sharing an issue again when the new contract expires. Members of both unions must approve the contracts before they will be in force.

David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.