Off the back of US strike, UK union sets minimum pay for video game performers

No one was surprised when British actor Neil Newbon won the “Best Performance” category at The Game Awards last year for his role as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 — beating Hollywood royalty Idris Elba’s appearance in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. (However, it is safe to assume that Elba, while also British may have been offered significantly more for his role.) 

Disparities in pay for video game performers have become fiercely contentious. The UK’s performing arts and entertainment trade union, Equity, has proposed a solution. The union announced today it has set recommended minimum rates for video game performers, hoping to bridge the pay gap to their North American colleagues.

Video game performers have traditionally not made a lot of money from their contributions, even for highly popular franchises. The rise of AI and synthetic media has not done much to improve the situation. 

Game On! for AI protection and fair pay

After negotiations around worker protection from AI between game publishers such as Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, WB Games and unions broke down a couple of weeks ago, the US Screen Actors Guild called a strike. 

“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation,” said interactive media agreement negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh.

Spurred on by the controversy across the pond, Equity has taken the opportunity to set a recommended minimum for the payment of video game performers in the UK for the very first time. 

“It comes as Equity stands in solidarity with our sister union, SAG-AFTRA, who are on strike against major video game companies in the US,” Equity said in a statement. “Many of the issues experienced by SAG-AFTRA members are shared by Equity members, such as the threat of artificial intelligence.” 

However, unlike in the US, Equity stated, there is no collectively bargained agreement with video games companies to set union-agreed minimum rates and pay performers fairly.

The recommendations are part of Equity’s Game On! Campaign, and intended to “address systemic low pay for performers working in video games in the UK,” which the Union says has stagnated and not kept up with the rate of inflation.

Furthermore, UK video game performers are paid far less than their colleagues in the US or Canada, despite being hired by the same studios. 

The rates are intended for AAA games. That is, games that are high-budget, high-profile and produced and distributed by major game publishers.

They include minimum fees for, among other things, voiceover work per hour, motion and performance capture per day, promotional activity per hour, overtime per 30 mins past wrap time, etc. You can find them in their entirety here. 

Safeguarding the art form of video games

In the words of YouTuber Redbeardflynn, while gaming itself may not be one of those things that some people associate with art, it is “absolutely an art form. It is in a lot of ways the combination of multiple forms of art coming together to create a piece of art that you can actually interact with.” 

It is essential for that art form that we continue to have performances like Neil Newbon’s Astarion, Ashley Johnson’s Ellie from The Last of Us, Christopher Judge’s Kratos in God of War, and Jennifer Hale in, well, just about anything. 

But it would also be made so much poorer if minor roles were to be replaced by AI-generated voices, and performers were not able to make a living off their craft.

“Our goal is to ensure fair pay and good working conditions for the performers who have trained for years to develop the skills they use to bring video games to life,” Equity said. “We urge Equity members to demand these minimum standards and we invite studios and developers to work with us on collective agreements that protect everyone and will ensure the games industry in the UK continues to thrive.”