This is why Nintendo is on top of things, silent characters need no voice actors.

- SAG-AFTRA, the union which looks after voice actors (among loads of other jobs), is considering the possibility of going to a strike

- the demands:

1) better protection

2) better pay for when a role requires physically demanding voice work (such as repeated loud screams),

3) clearer definition between the roles of voice actors and motion-capture actors (the former is often expected to do the latter unexpectedly)

4) performance bonuses should a game sell over 2 million copies.

- Why a strike? The union and video game publishers met first in February and then in June to try and sort out a new contract for voice actors, and were unable to come to an agreement. So a vote is going down early next month, and if over 75% of members agree, then all union members working on video games will go on strike.

- Whil Wheaton (Grand Theft Auto, Fallout New Vegas, DC Universe Online, etc.) wrote about the hardships of being a voice actor:

http://wilwheaton.net/2015/09/this-is-why-i-support-a-sag-aftra-strike-authorization-for-video-games-and-it-isnt-about-money/

- other voice actors have also voiced their support for a strike:

Having worked on a wee video game myself that has done quite well, these are important issues. #PerformanceMatters https://t.co/fXRRMOKOcB

— Steven Ogg (@StevenOgg) September 22, 2015

SOME people don't think #PerformanceMatters ...fans know better pic.twitter.com/BBQ3JnOmzt

— tara strong (@tarastrong) September 22, 2015

http://kotaku.com/video-game-voice-actors-are-thinking-about-a-strike-1732704288

So now what? Do we go back to reading dialogue text?

Very interesting topic. Not something I've thought too much of until just now actually

- the demands:

1) better protection - Against what?

2) better pay for when a role requires physically demanding voice work (such as repeated loud screams) - Fair enough

3) clearer definition between the roles of voice actors and motion-capture actors (the former is often expected to do the latter unexpectedly) - Fair enough

4) performance bonuses should a game sell over 2 million copies. - lol why?

I can see reasons why this would be effective and why it wouldn't.

1. There are so few actual voice actors that if they agree to sit, the already large talent void will become even larger.

2. It's not like publishers couldn't find amateurs who would do just as well.

1 and 2 and 3 seem reasonable, but the 4th one seems very iffy to me.

In the words of Nathan Fillion 'voice actors are replaceable'. I mean look at the change of snakes voice in mgs5 sure fans were made but it didn't stop them from buying the game and the change was made by beloved kojima before the 'fuck konami' fieasco.

It was be hard when fans doesn't care enough to actually support voice actors who knows maybe the strike will raise awareness but i still thing it wont make much impact.

Bring the cheesy video game voice acting please.

So much better. Now days it is just Nathan Drake, Joel Booker and one or two main female ones. 

Man, the game industry is great at being terrible to its workers. Voice actors in other industries seem to be treated just fine.

its way better without voice actors

The responses to this thread are kind of worrying. Yeah, voice actors are replaceable. Does that mean we should ignore their requests? No. These people still put time and effort, often more than they expect to, to be paid less than they deserve.

Could the companies outsource if the whole guild went on strike in the US? Yes, but the cost of shipping the actors overseas and then making them do mocap work, or the cost of paying a local actor to mocap, will still hurt the publisher even if only marginally on huge games. If I can find the article Steven Ogg wrote on the issue just after GTA V launched, I'll link it in an edit. The amount of work he and the other two main actors did was insane and voice actors gained a lot of respect in my book after reading what's essentially the status quo for a voice/mocap performance.

The voices may be replaceable, but a lot will be lost when you have two people doing one person's job. Nolan North noted that it takes a special actor to be able to act, correctly, while imagining the entire scene they're in instead of on a real, tangible set that can help them get into character.