SAG-AFTRA has reached a deal to end the video game strike against 11 video game companies that has been going on for almost a year, the union announced Monday.
The deal for the new contract that was reached over the weekend will be reviewed by the national board next month. The tentative agreement will include a new bonus structure that provides additional payment to performers. The bonus payment will be due no later than the release date of the video game.
“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. “The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together.”
SAG-AFTRA called the strike on Oct. 21, 2016, after trying for nearly two years to negotiate with video game producers.
The biggest point of contention was that the gaming giants — including Electronic Arts, Activision and WB Games — claimed that SAG-AFTRA rejected a workable compromise for increased pay and better working conditions for voice-over actors and stunt people who perform for popular video games.
The union believed the gaming companies were being resistant because they feared other groups working for them — including programmers and designers — might pursue their own negotiations.
Keythe Farley, chair of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Negotiating Committee, added in Monday’s statement, “The bonus payments we have now are significantly larger now than what we had 11 months ago. And the existence of additional payments beyond your session fee is in the video game world for good, both in our high-budget and independent promulgated agreements. Those are the victories that this strike has brought us.”
Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez, who was the lead negotiator on the new contract, added that the deal includes improvements in the areas of transparency, which 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.”
Members will also be protected by the disclosure of whether they be required to use “unusual terminology, profanity or racial slurs, whether there will be content or a sexual or violent nature and whether stunts will be required.” However, the new agreement does not include several proposals sought by management, including a provision that would have fined performers for being late or distracted.