SAG-AFTRA union announces deal for AI protections on 80 video games

Eighty games have signed SAG-AFTRA’s tiered-budget or interim agreements, a sign that the entertainment union said proves that its provisions — which include common sense AI protections — are fair and achievable.

The union has been on strike against the major game developers since July, and these interim and tiered agreements provide employment opportunities to members during the work stoppage. This deal will allow members to work, but it does not mean the strike is completely over. The actual AI protections were also not described in any detail yet.

Today’s announcement follows Wednesday’s news that Lightspeed L.A. has agreed to produce current and future games, including Last Sentinel, under the SAG-AFTRA Interim Interactive Media Agreement. 

Various game developers who have signed tiered-budget or interim video game agreements also offered statements of support. 

“Little Bat Games is proud to work with SAG-AFTRA in ensuring that top-tier voice talent is appropriately compensated and protected,” the game company said in a statement. “As a small studio working on a game about psychology, we always advocate protecting human interests and appreciate SAG-AFTRA’s help to keep the industry accountable.”

“I support SAG-AFTRA actors during this strike and hope that A.I. protections are secured,” said developer Francisco Gonzalez.

Jeremy Stieglitz, development director at Studio Wildcard said, “Studio Wildcard partners with production company Noah Protocol for all of its SAG-AFTRA member videogame voice recordings, in ARK Survival Evolved and beyond. SAG-AFTRA has enabled us to work with top-tier talent using standardized union agreements, which has been a huge benefit to the quality and consistency of voicework in our games.”

In addition, some of the games that fall outside the strike order have voluntarily signed on to the agreements, demonstrating a clear demand for SAG-AFTRA talent and a willingness to protect that talent. Included among those signatories are games that have finished production and have signed the Interim Agreement which protects past and future performances from unregulated AI use.

SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh said, “This labor action is about creating work with sufficient A.I. protections. The sheer volume of companies that have signed SAG-AFTRA agreements demonstrates how reasonable those protections are. We are thrilled for our actors to continue working under fair union contracts with companies who know how invaluable our performers are to their games.”  

SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement, “We applaud those video game companies signing our tiered-budget and interim agreements. Not only are they doing the right thing by their workers, they’re also helping to preserve the human art, ingenuity and creativity that fuels interactive storytelling. These agreements signal that the video game companies in the collective bargaining group do not represent the will of the larger video game industry. The many companies that are happy to agree to our A.I. terms prove that these terms are not only reasonable, but feasible and sustainable for businesses.”

The SAG-AFTRA video game strike started on July 26, after more than 18 months of negotiations ended without a deal. The employers rebuffed the union’s proposals for consent, compensation and transparency around the use of A.I., and instead countered with loophole-filled language that negated the protections they claimed to offer.