On Wednesday, video game actors voted to end an artificial intelligence (AI) protections strike nearly one year after it began. Hollywood performer labor union SAG-AFTRA confirmed the resolution via news release and social media posts.
Around 2,500 SAG-AFTRA members, including voice actors and motion capture performers, approved the 2025 SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement. The near-unanimous vote garnered 95.04% of member approval. Per SAG-AFTRA’s release, all digital and traditional ballots were cast before “July 9, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT. The final vote was certified by Integrity Voting Systems, an impartial election service based in Everett, Washington.”
The strike, which began in July 2024, challenged AI utilization in prominent industry institutions like Electronic Arts, WB Games, and Activision Blizzard. Performers’ strike halted various projects industry-wide, the worker movement likely fueled by tangential writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023.
The new contract implements more rigorous safety guardrails for high-risk mo-cap performers as well as consent and disclosure requirements for AI-generated performer depictions. Performers can also suspend consent for the generation of new material during a strike.
As part of the new agreement, SAG-AFTRA members will receive 15.17% pay increases, as well as yearly 3% raises through November 2027. The deal also bases overscale performers’ max overtime rate on a double scale.
The latest SAG-AFTRA release includes a statement from the organization’s president, Fran Drescher:
“I commend the strong leadership of Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Chair Sarah Elmaleh, who remained steadfast through three years of hard bargaining while facing many challenging headwinds during a challenging negotiation cycle. This deal achieves important progress around A.I. protections, and progress is the name of the game! My sincere respect goes out to the entire video game performer community and their allies for their solidarity during the strike which provided the necessary leverage to secure this deal’s many essential gains.”
“We are pleased that SAG-AFTRA members have ratified a new Interactive Media Agreement, which delivers historic wage increases, industry-leading A.I. protections, and enhanced health and safety measures for performers,” said Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson on behalf of game producers involved. “We look forward to building on our industry’s decades-long partnership with the union and continuing to create groundbreaking entertainment experiences for billions of players worldwide.”
The strike has made headlines in the past year, most notably regarding the union’s pursuit of Epic Games’ AI-generated, expletive-laden Darth Vader. The team behind the character’s implementation utilized generative AI to mimic the intimidating baritone of original Vader actor James Earl Jones.
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A lifelong gamer raised on classic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Croc, Stephanie brings her expertise of gaming and pop culture to deliver unique, refreshing views on the world of video games, complete with references to absurd and obscure media.
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