Many Disney Video Games Listed As Part OF SAG-AFTRA Strike

This week, the SAG-AFTRA announced that it would be going on strike against Video Game employees including EA, Insomniac Games, Warner Brothers and Disney, after negotiations fell through on a new deal.   The SAG-AFTRA have been trying for the past 19 months to update the Interactive Contract, which wasn’t introduced in 1994.

The group have asked voice actors who have put games into production since February 18th 2015, to go on strike and the list of games effected has been revealed, including LEGO Marvel and Star Wars titles from Warner Brothers, plus many Disney titles like Disney Magical World 2, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and many others including apps like Disney Magic Kingdoms.

The list does show a wide selection of games, most of these have been released already or have been renamed, such as a listing does show a LEGO Marvel 2 game, which I believe to be Marvel Avengers, and it’s unclear if the strike will effect the release of Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue , which is due to be released in January.  EA men Insomniac Games are also effected, though neither future Star Wars or the upcoming Spider-Man game are listed.

Here are details on why SAG-AFTRA are going on strike:

The two issues of greatest contention are transparency and secondary compensation. While the companies are willing to disclose potentially objectionable material that may be involved in the role, they refuse to tell the performer’s agent what game the actor will be working on. This keeps the performer from being able to make an educated decision about whether to take job. This is unheard of in any of our other contracts.

Regarding secondary compensation, employers have offered to give actors an upfront bonus based on number of sessions worked, starting at the second session worked. The negotiating team is willing to agree to their proposal, as long as secondary compensation is an option. In other words, an employer would have the option to buy out an actor by paying a bonus upfront or, if they prefer, they would have the option to pay a bonus after the game releases, if the game happens to sell more than 2 million units. The employers have refused to consider this option, excluding games from union talent if they are unable to afford the upfront bonus structure.

What do you think of this strike?