Actor’s union SAG-AFTRA is celebrating the end of a three-year negotiating process over the terms of the Interactive Media Agreement (IMA), its wide-ranging contract with major video game development studios like Warner Bros. Interactive, Take-Two, and Electronic Arts. Union members officially ratified the contract’s terms after a month-long voting process, cementing protections for voice actors and performance capture artists around the use of generative AI, pay raises, and new safety standards for on-set stunts and auditions.
“This deal achieves important progress around A.I. protections, and progress is the name of the game,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in a statement accompany the announcement the results of the vote. “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.”
95 percent of participating union members voted in favor of the contract, with 5 percent opposed.
Members of the game development production bargaining group praised the conclusion of negotiations, with spokesperson Audrey Cooling saying the producers are “pleased” that the deal was ratified. “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.”
Going forward, union members will benefit from minimum payments for the use of “Digital Replicas” created with their performances, as well as higher payments for the creation of chatbots based on their work. They’ll also receive payments when performances are reused in future projects.
Actors will also receive a modest pay raise for future gigs, starting with a 15 percent increase in new projects signed under the new IMA, with compounded 3 percent increases starting in November 2025. Overtime pay will also increase for “overscale” performers based on “double scale.”
A lesser-discussed portion of the contract also mandates the presence of qualified medical professionals at rehearsals and performances during which “hazardous actions or working conditions” are planned. On-camera “principal performers” will also now have mandated rest periods, and employers will not be able to request performers execute stunts or “other dangerous activity” in virtual or self-taped auditions.
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson confirmed that these terms will apply to developers who signed on to the interim IMA over the last year (which allowed them to hire SAG-AFTRA members on new projects), but not those operating under the tiered budget independent agreements.
Negotiations over the Interactive Media agreement lasted over two years
Though the SAG-AFTRA strike against companies in the collective bargaining group lasted for just under a year, SAG-AFTRA negotiators have been battling for today’s contract for three years. The union first called for actors to vote on strike authorization in September 2023 after months of negotiation between the two parties. Members overwhelmingly agreed to authorize the bargaining committee to call for a strike, which it only did after holding its powder for another 10 months.
In that time, the union made aggressive plays to show it was compromising with the wants and needs of game developers in regards to pay and generative AI. It signed an agreement with AI audio company Ethovox, struck deals with game studios not part of the core bargaining group, and created new contracts for independent devs and developers making games at game jams or as students.
Video game voice actors accomplished these wins without the same work stoppage pressure of their peers in TV, film, and streaming who went on a 3-month strike in 2023 for better pay and protections against exploiting their image with generative AI. Interactive Media union members had to wrangle with the terms of “side letter six,” a section of the Interactive Media Agreement that allows work to continue on games already in production like Grand Theft Auto VI. Some bargaining developers like Activision, Riot Games, and Bungie found themselves impacted by the strike, as actors were allowed to turn down offers to “re-up” short-term contracts on exempt production to show solidarity with their striking peers.
Drescher and National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland lauded the work of Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Chair Sarah Elmaleh for enduring the three-year ordeal, along with the negotiating staff and lead negotiator Ray Rodriguez. . “Now that the agreement is ratified, video game performers will be able to enjoy meaningful gains and important A.I. protections, which we will continue to build on as uses of this technology settle and evolve,” Crabtree-Ireland said.
The fight for voice actors’ working rights may now head overseas. In France, the French dubbing cast of Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends quit after being asked to sign away their voices by an unnamed publisher, and actor’s guild Equity protested the BAFTA awards earlier this year to advocate for video game union contracts in the UK.
