Videogame Actors Go on Strike: SAG-AFTRA, which has about 160,000 members, says that the major game makers are refusing to include adequate protection against generative AI in their contracts. The game makers disagree, and so far the two sides are at an impasse.

The strike will prevent union actors from working on new games in production at many major studios until they can agree on a new contract. Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, is one of the game makers on strike, but “Grand Theft Auto 6” is the most anticipated of the upcoming games and is expected to contain gigabytes of dialogue.

According to statements from unions and game makers obtained by Kotaku, many games, including GTA 6, are exempt from the strike.

SAG-AFTRA explains in its FAQs that “it is easier to think of strikes in terms of games that have gone on strike as opposed to companies that have gone on strike” because “some companies cannot strike because of specific contract terms.”

In an Aftermath report, SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracting Officer Ray Rodriguez stated that the union was “clearly not satisfied” with the GTA 6 exemption, but that it was “negotiated” in a legacy agreement created before the SAG-AFTRA union merged He stated that there are rules regarding the game already in development, and affirmed that there are rules regarding the game.

“It's language that was basically inherited by the merged union, which I think is insane,” Rodriguez said.

“And Rodriguez says, ‘I think it's insane.’

The union's FAQ, however, states that “members will not be disciplined for competing in these matches, but may choose to stand in solidarity with their fellow union members by refusing to cross the picket line for these matches.

In other words, an actor who is invited to play in a game for a company that is not on strike but is on strike may decline the offer. This includes actors who were previously in the game under a daily contract and are now being asked to sign a new contract.

The strike aims to formalize “the right to fair remuneration and informed consent for AI use of (actors') faces, voices and bodies,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland national secretary general of SAG-AFTRA said in a statement this week. Although game makers claim that they already offer “the strongest” protection in the entertainment industry, Rodriguez explained in the Aftermath report that the union is not satisfied with certain protections offered to motion-capture performers.

GTA 6 is scheduled for release in the fall of 2025, but a PC version has not been announced.