SAG-AFTRA has rejected the video game industry’s “final offer” for a new contract, setting the stage for a strike beginning Friday at midnight PT. A federal mediator who’d been brought into the talks yesterday failed to bring the two sides close enough to make a deal. The main sticking point is residuals.

The companies’ final offer included a 9% pay hike — effective immediately if the union’s membership ratifies the pact by December 1 — and up to $950 in “additional compensation” on top of a performers regular pay depending on how many sessions were worked on each game.

“The union has demanded a contingency fee based upon number of games sold or subscribers,” said Scott Witlin, the companies’ chief negotiator. “Instead of that, we are offering to immediately reward the hard work of performers through this accelerated raise and additional compensation package.”

“We had hoped this would be successful,” he said, “but union leadership left mediation without providing a counteroffer. We urged union leaders to put the package to a vote of their membership, but union leaders refused.”

SAG-AFTRA’s board of directors voted unanimously Sunday to strike the video game companies if a deal isn’t reached by midnight Friday night.

You cannot work under any titles that went into production after February 17, 2015 for the following employers: Activision Publishing Inc.; Blindlight, LLC; Corps of Discovery Films; Disney Character Voices, Inc.; Electronic Arts Productions, Inc.; Formosa Interactive, Inc.; Insomniac Games, Inc.; Interactive Associates, Inc.; Take 2 Interactive Software; VoiceWorks Productions, Inc.; and WB Games, Inc.

Residuals remain the key issue in the strike, which began October 21. The guild wants to give the game companies the option of paying an upfront bonus to performers or paying backend residuals on successful games. The companies, however, steadfastly have refused to include any residuals formula in the collective bargaining agreement.

“We are not going to stop until we have a fair contract for our members,” David White, the union’s national executive director, told the crowd today. And then, addressing what he called a $100 billion industry, he said, “We are demanding that you pay secondary compensation now.”

SAG-AFTRA Reaches Tentative Agreement to End Video Game Strike

LOS ANGELES (September 25, 2017) – SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement to end the strike against 11 video game companies that has been waged since October 21, 2016.

The terms of the tentative agreement, which was reached early Saturday morning, include a new bonus structure that provides an additional payment to performers. The bonus payment, which is due no later than the release date of the game, is based on the number of sessions worked on each game, beginning with a $75 payment on the first session and totaling $2,100 after 10 sessions worked.

“This is an important advance in this critical industry space. We secured a number of gains including for the first time, a secondary payment structure which was one of the members' key concerns,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. "The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together."

Keythe Farley, chair of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Negotiating Committee, said the strike delivered key victories for member performers in the video game community.

“The bonus payments we have now are significantly larger now than what we had 11 months ago. And the existence of additional payments beyond your session fee is in the video game world for good, both in our high-budget and independent promulgated agreements,” said Farley. “Those are the victories that this strike has brought us.”

Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez, who was the lead negotiator on the new contract, said that the deal includes significant improvements in the area of transparency.

“The new transparency provisions will enhance the bargaining power of our members’ representatives by requiring the companies to disclose the code name of project, its genre, whether the game is based on previously published intellectual property and whether the performer is reprising a prior role,” said Rodriguez. “Members are also protected by the disclosure of whether they will be required to use unusual terminology, profanity or racial slurs, whether there will be content of a sexual or violent nature and whether stunts will be required.”

The deal also contains an employer commitment to continue working with SAG-AFTRA on the issue of vocal stress during the term of the agreement. Moreover, the agreement does not include several proposals sought by management, including a provision that would have fined performers for being late or distracted at session, another that would have required agents to submit performers for low-paying “atmospheric voice” sessions or face fines, and a possible revocation of their union franchise, and another that would have allowed employers to use their permanent staff to do covered work outside of the collective bargaining agreement.

The contract will next be reviewed by the SAG-AFTRA National Board at its October meeting.