hosannainexcelsis
Member
Ugh. This sort of attitude, that artists shouldn't expect to be compensated for their work, is the worst.
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Major VIdeogame Voice Actors Union Considers Strike With #PreformanceMatters Campaign
- Thread starter Mushroomer25
- Start date
Ugh. This sort of attitude, that artists shouldn't expect to be compensated for their work, is the worst.
TetraGenesis
Member
Yet with better contract terms we will have quality greater than we've ever had in video game voice acting.
Thanks! Should be added to OP for clarification.
I don't think the inconsistency in VA is as much to do with talent as it it the budget and time restraints given to the task at hand.
In film, TV and theatre you often have a rehearsal period and you are normally interacting with other actors, and usually you have no where near the amount of dialog as you may have in a game. Anything but a massive AAA title with all the mocap bells and whistles will leave you with an actor on their own in a booth having to read off x amount of lines of dialog an hour with little context but what a director gives them. Very difficult work.
Unfortunately budgets won't normally allow for more than this, as it's expensive to add voice to a game. Actors, agents, directors, studio time, recording engineers and post production time all take their toll on a budget.
Dick Justice
Banned
Made me chuckle.
Nubian Star
Member
they can still hire me for little or nothing
I play video games to enjoy interactive storytelling. So, sorry if this doesn't apply to you, but it applies to me, and it sure as hell applies to some VAs I count as friends, who sure as hell deserve greater consideration.
Jesus Christ what a shitty opinion to have.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
Good luck to them. Voice acting is a huge deal to me.
ebullientprism
Member
Those sale related bonuses makes me feel like they are overestimating their impact on game sales. This isn't the movies. No one buys a game because its got some specific VO actor. Hell musicians have a better claim to it than VO guys. In video games VO actors are about as important as the people who do the boxart or write npc dialogue.
Then again most of what I say is heavily biased since I skip a chunk of cutscenes in games.
/shrug.
Then again most of what I say is heavily biased since I skip a chunk of cutscenes in games.
/shrug.
To everyone saying that Hollywood actors are paid too high, let me ask you a question: why do you think they are able to be paid so highly? Is it not because the product they make support it? If they do not deserve said money, who should get it?
I think it is easy to demonize athletes and actors because of their financial success, but in all reality if they did not get such salaries, it would just go to the owners/executives. We can certainly ask why are specific entertainment sectors so financially successful, but I think it is dangerous to vilify the workers that have managed to create more equitable situations with owners/management than in most other industries.
I think it is easy to demonize athletes and actors because of their financial success, but in all reality if they did not get such salaries, it would just go to the owners/executives. We can certainly ask why are specific entertainment sectors so financially successful, but I think it is dangerous to vilify the workers that have managed to create more equitable situations with owners/management than in most other industries.
akachan ningen
Member
I don't think they're doing that great of a job tbh. They have great voices but their acting leaves much to be desired. It seems like devs care more about getting the right voice.
Danny O'Dwyer quotes have really started to bug me since a couple of days ago on his tweets about content creators and how he worked in video games for free for the longest time. Just screams exploitation of passion. Passion is often the most exploitable aspect of a person to be used by companies and is dangerous.
Passion is also what voice actors have in abundance as it's very required because the pay is often so very low. They deserve fair pay.
Passion is also what voice actors have in abundance as it's very required because the pay is often so very low. They deserve fair pay.
Aaronrules380
Member
My issue is that for most games, voice acting is a secondary issue to other factors for players. Comparing it to the movie industry has flaws, because in a movie the story and thus the acting are absolutely essential to entertainment. In games, very rarely is the story the centerpiece. Add to this that's it's much easier for games to get away with no voice acting at all than movies, and the comparison really falls flat. And a lot of the games that would really benefit from great voice acting won't be worth the time of these people, because they're B-tier stuff. I'm sure Atlus would be more than happy to give bonuses to voice actors for every 2 million sold of their games, because even something like Persona 5 is unlikely to sell 2 million copies anyways.
Krappadizzle
Member
Hey, I won't disagree. I am just annoyed that people are so dismissive of what the voice actors contribute. It's a craft like any other. And you are absolutely right, devs are underpaid and that should be rectified. VA's I think have the benefit of not being beholden to a specific company. It's pretty much shitty pay for all involved that aren't the big wigs. I'd like to see most developers go the self publishing route so they can make or break it for themselves and not be so beholden to publishers.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
Game makers should form a union they are "allowed". They voice actors should be penalized because they'be exercised their rights
Every working person should support the voice actors. And any striking workers for that matter.
zackmorris
Member
Unfortunately voice actors aren't really a draw for game sales the way actors are with movies. So I don't see this ending well for them.
RevolverRoden
Member
It's too bad Troy Baker quit twitter heh.
You can easily find someone, sure. Getting them to give the same amount of quality as the professional VAs is another matter entirely
You could say that about any job, finding someone with the right skills and talent is always going to be difficult.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
The talent is likely not anywhere near the union level.
And it would take time and money to find scabs, in production work would have to be restarted, plus lots of other things. Likely with a strong vote( which is a sign of few likely scabs and more damage to the industry) the enployers are likely to see contract concessions as a better option than a lack of labor peace.
Aaronrules380
Member
The issue is I'm not sure how often that actually matters. Most of the games that they'd even benefit from with their demands could sell just as well regardless of VA quality. I doubt stuff like CoD is going to be effected much even if they just use incredibly shitty voice actors, because that's not why anyone is playing the game. A few "cinematic epics" will be affected, but really very few games depend that much on good VA, and many of the ones that do will never ever sell that 2 million mark for this to even be worthwhile for them
TransTrender
Gold Member
And here I am thinking "Performance Matters" meant no shitty PC ports or broken console releases.
Iastfan112
Neo Member
I certainly support VA's getting a decent wage but I'm not sure tying it to sales is right. As has been mentioned already, a particular voice actor being in a game does not entice me to purchase it like an actor would in a movie.
Rest of the points seem very reasonable though.
Rest of the points seem very reasonable though.
It depends on the actor, etc.
Base is $880 a day, and a day is the minimum session time.
Non-SAG actors generally make more per hour (like $200-250), but typically have a session minimum of 2 hours.
Also even if you're willing to do it. There is a whole controversy around Sega and Ryan Drummond, the original VA for Sonic. He was even willing to relocate to New York to continue doing Sonic's voice under 4Kids for the show and games to keep the voices consistent. Sega never notified him of his firing and he only found out when he called them to inquire about further voice work. They opted to use all the 4Kids voice actors in secret. Additionally, they would later replace Jason Griffith for Roger Craig Smith out of the blue. He didn't have to audition like Jason or Ryan had too.
However, Ryan Drummond did have a chance to come back for Sonic Generations, but Sega wanted him to leave his union to do so, so Ryan rejected the offer.
Most devs pride themselves on making quality games though. Especially in the AAA market. If they are going to get people who can't act because it will do and it's cheap why stop there.
"No need for higher quality SFX, save some cash and sack the audio designer I'm sure some person in QA can make a gun sound in audacity. Likewise why hire musicians when the level designer can play the guitar abit."
I think you get my point. Over the last good number of years the games industry has been trying to get out of the shadow of TV and film; good VO has been integral in this in the same way as having amazing sound design and a great score along with all the tech advances we've seein in general.
SuperChoco
Member
I wonder how Charles Martinet feels about this. He's been voicing a considerable portion of the Mario series since 1995 alongside some other performances.
Overall, I'm really happy about this. I definitely think that voice actors in general deserve more fame.
Overall, I'm really happy about this. I definitely think that voice actors in general deserve more fame.
graywolf323
Member
I'd have to read up more on the specifics and perhaps they do deserve to get paid more but the comparison to the movie industry rubs me the wrong way
in no way should they paid like movie stars, the games do not sell because of the voice talent
in no way should they paid like movie stars, the games do not sell because of the voice talent
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Yeah no it doesn't work like that. And calling someone like Nolan North and Troy Baker (I should google more) "B-Tier" is one of the dumbest statements I've heard on an internet forum. And if people are investing time into something, they have to be compensated properly.
Aaronrules380
Member
I honestly don't think they're at the same level at all in the game industry. Just cut out a bunch of generic fight lines and shit, and nothing of value is lost. ANd those generic fight lines are pretty much 90% of the voice acting you hear in games. Aside from cutscenes, which are usually a very small part of games, you rarely ever really need voice acting. COmparing it to the score or sound design is ajoke, because those are always present, no matter what you do in a game. Voice acting is not
NYCmetsfan
Banned
Where do you see them demanding Hollywood pay? They're not askig for millions. You do no everyone in Hollywood isn't making blockbusters but has a union minimum
And with the amount video games make why shouldn't they demand more of the pie? Who else deserved that? The suits? I'd say the people that make the games. I wish the makers would unionize but I'm not going to fault the voice actors who long ago realized how important unions are for fighting for their cut.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
This ain't the 90s anymore. Very few games nowadays can get away with no VA whatsoever.
cubicle47b
Member
That's a good question. I've seen a few numbers that suggest the average is low 40's. I don't know how many hours per year of work that is.
Outtrigger888
Member
Isn't there only 2 voice actors in the gaming industry?
This is more to do with how the VO is implemented in the game, and the dialog system the game uses and less to do with the acting. There are only so many ways an actor can say they are throwing a grenade.
Generic barks in games can break a game if not done correctly. But it's in the writing and the way the game handles it. If the game has the same barks repeating over and over then it's badly designed.
And 90% of the voice acting, no, more like between 30% and 50%. But it feels like more because of how they can be repeated ad-nauseum in a badly designed game.
Edit.
Also I don't think you realise how much VO there is in most big titles, anywhere between 10,000 to 30,000 lines of dialog dependant on the type and scope of the game.
Just how many games have you passed up this last nine years in favor of Oblivion replays?