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You might have thought that the SAG-AFTRA strikes ended back in 2023, but that was just the on-screen talent who struck a deal with Hollywood studios. Video game voice actors have been on a separate strike for almost a year at this point, primarily over a single issue – the use of AI in video games to replicate or replace voice actors. This week, after 11 months and countless breakdowns in negotiations, SAG-AFTRA announced that it has reached a tentative agreement to end the video game voice actors strike at last.

An announcement came earlier this week that SAG-AFTRA had reached a tentative agreement with major video game companies, including Activision, EA, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, Disney Character Voices Inc., and WB Games. Details of the deal haven’t been made public yet, but presumably, it includes protections against the use of AI in video games. This has become an increasingly large issue following the Sony AI avatar demo that was leaked online earlier this year and increasingly harsh words from actors about the dangers that AI posed to their livelihoods.

It also comes not long after it was revealed that James Earl Jones sold the rights to his Darth Vader voice shortly before his death so that AI recreations could be made in the future. That move has been challenged by SAG-AFTRA following the use of Jones’ AI clone to voice Vader in Fortnite. (It's notable that Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, is named in SAG-AFTRA's announcement as one of the companies attached to the potential agreement.)

While the tentative deal between SAG-AFTRA and video game publishers awaits approval by the union and its members, the strike continues. However, this is the closest the video game voice actors strike has come to an end, so we’ve at least got a bit of hope that people will soon be able to return to work – hopefully free from having their work stolen to feed the industry’s obsession with AI.

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