Voice actors, video game companies clash as strike begins

The union representing video game voice actors claims they have yet to receive a "fair proposal" from video game companies that would end a strike entering its fourth day.

In a statement released Monday, lawyers for the video game companies including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive said they matched requests from SAG-AFTRA — which represents more than 160,000 actors and other media professionals —on wages and other compensation before the strike was called.

"The Union negotiating committee's continued public positioning of workplace safety as a rationale for striking these pro-Union Companies is disingenuous and paternalistic," said Scott J. Witlin of Barnes & Thornburg, the law firm serving as chief negotiator for video game companies, in a statement.

The firm also claims video game companies reached agreement with SAG-AFTRA to investigate issues with vocal stress among voice actors.

In a separate statement later that day, SAG-AFTRA says video game companies remain "intractable" in the bargaining process.

Among the key issues is offering secondary compensation to voice actors to work on a top-selling video game franchise. The union says it wants actors to earn performance bonuses for every 2 million copies of a game sold, or every 2 million subscribers for online-only titles.

The final offer from game makers presented last week included an immediate 9% wage increase and additional payments of up to $950 per game based on how many voice sessions an actor completed. Lawyers for the video game companies say their offer is nearly identical to what SAG-AFTRA proposed, which the union disputes.

"These employers know full well that our issue is the creation of secondary payments that allow our members to share in the success of the most successful games," read a statement from the SAG-AFTRA committee negotiating with companies. "The employers’ offer purposely does not do that."

The union also wants actors to receive more details on what projects they're signing up to join. The eleven video game companies targeted in the strike publish some of the industry's biggest titles, including Call of Duty (Activision), Mass Effect (Electronic Arts), Grand Theft Auto (Take-Two Interactive) and Mortal Kombat (WB Games).

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.