SAG-AFTRA's Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on How Consumers Can Support Video Game Actors Strike as It Nears 250-Day Mark

Yahoo

02-04-2025

The SAG-AFTRA strike against major video game companies has nearly reached the 250-day mark and there's no deal yet. And while nothing seems to have changed from the outside, real progress is being made behind the scenes.
The video game companies' bargaining committee (which represents Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions and WB Games) presented an updated counter proposal of the Interactive Media Agreement to the actors union on March 26, which 'directly addresses several issues the union has identified as important components of a deal,' a source close to negotiations told Variety.
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The SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, which has consistently expressed that protections against generative AI for performers is their top priority, is currently reviewing the new proposal.
'We have proposed a deal that includes wage increases of over 15% for SAG-AFTRA represented performers in video games, as well as enhanced health and safety protections, industry-leading terms of use for AI digital replicas in-game and additional compensation for the use of an actor's performance in other games,' a spokesperson for the major gaming companies involved in the negotiations said in a statement Monday. 'We have made meaningful progress and are eager to return to the bargaining table to reach a deal.'
On Friday, SAG-AFTRA announced the creation of the Student Interactive Waiver Agreement and the Game Jam Waiver Agreement, which the union says 'provide video game developers at every stage of their careers the opportunity to work with union performers, even as the video game strike continues.'
Prior to these new movements, Variety spoke with SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on March 20 during the 2025 Game Developers Conference (GDC) about the possibility of a boycott, should progress continue to be stalled, and what he wants to see from consumers who are looking to support the actors in the strike.
'It's definitely a tool that's still in our toolbox,' Crabtree-Ireland said of the union's option to call for a formal boycott. 'Because we are actively having conversations, both formally and informally, with the industry, it's not a tool we have chosen to deploy yet — but we absolutely are willing to deploy it if the circumstances demand, and we absolutely have not ruled out doing that if necessary. But I'm hopeful that we'll be able to find the path to an agreement without having to pull that trigger, but it is definitely still something that we have at our disposal if and when our committee decides it's time to use it.'
The strike began in July 2024, following an inability for SAG-AFTRA and the video game companies' bargaining committee to reach a deal for a new Interactive Media Agreement. They were able to find common ground on 24 items in a 25-item proposal, the ongoing sticking point being issues with generative AI.
While his team is at work negotiating towards a resolution, Crabtree-Ireland has recommendations for members of the gaming community who want to back their cause from the outside.
'I think consumers definitely can support the strike by, first of all, just sharing their disappointment with the companies through social media channels, through customer service channels, just communicating either directly to the companies or publicly through social media that they support our members and what we're fighting for,' the SAG-AFTRA chief said.
Crabtree-Ireland notes that SAG-AFTRA released 'a lengthy document with all of the proposals related to the strike, all the AI proposals from both sides, so that everyone can see for themselves exactly what the disputes are — and that this is not a case that some of the companies have tried to hint at in their public statements, of us rejecting perfectly great offers that they've put across the table, or them being sensitive to what we really need.'
In those documents, Crabtree-Ireland says the union has laid out 'in very clear detail why the things the companies have offered have these massive loopholes that they could drive a truck through to take away our performers', our members' confidence that they won't be competing against their own digital replicas for work in the future.'
'So I think that the general public can just inform themselves, inform their friends, and help speak to their community and to the companies about the fact that they stand with us and just want companies to do the right thing so that everyone can get back to work,' he adds.
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