SAG-AFTRA is putting its video game strike in the rearview mirror.
Members of the performers’ union have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a labor agreement with major interactive companies that was reached in early June. More than 95 percent of voting members supported the deal in a vote, while less than five percent voiced their opposition, SAG-AFTRA announced on Wednesday.
The news officially puts an end to the union’s video game strike, which stretched on from July 2024 to June 2025, when negotiators reached a tentative deal and SAG-AFTRA subsequently suspended its work stoppage. Overall, the agreement — whose predecessor originally expired in November 2022 — took an unusually long time, three years, to hammer out.
But spanning 11 months, the union’s strike wasn’t anything to sniff at, either. The union’s national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, nodded to the lengthy action in a statement. “All of us at SAG-AFTRA would like to extend our deepest appreciation to the video game performers and allies who endured a great deal of sacrifice throughout the 11-month strike,” he said. “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.”
During the strike, performance capture and voice actors ceased working for major companies like Activision Productions, Electronic Arts Productions and Insomniac Games. Disney Character Voices, Formosa Interactive, WB Games, Take 2 Productions, Blindlight and Llama Production were also subject to the labor action.
The union framed the step as a necessary bulwark against their performers being exploited and undercut by AI. The sides had reached an agreement on 24 out of 25 proposals when SAG-AFTRA decided to walk away from the table in July 2024, a representative for the employers said at the time, with AI providing the breaking point.
In a statement on Wednesday, the same representative for the video game firms extolled the agreement’s changes to wages and language on A.I. and health and safety. “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,” spokesperson Audrey Cooling said.
More to come.
