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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Nolan North has strong words for striking voice actors

Rafie on 02 December 2016
sethnintendo said:
Rafie said:

I disagree with that wole heartedly. Quite a few folks are up there with him....and even better. Including the legendary Frank Welker and even Tara Strong.  Troy Baker is another one along with Dave Wittenberg. Not to mention Steve Blum. Scratch what I said earler...there's a LOT of folks better than Jon Benjamin.

Did I miss some sort of sarcasm or "the epicness of" banter here?

I was just talking out of my ass.  I don't think video game voice actors deserve a shitload of money but they should get enough for a decent living.  Sorry I just don't put that much value on voice actors.  Hell, I hardly even care about most star actors in movies besides a few.

I hear ya man. I agree about them making enough to sustain a decent living. I use to want to be a voice actor. Anyway, I still think folks in the entertainment business is far overpaid. Always have and always will.



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pokoko on 02 December 2016
shikamaru317 said:
pokoko said:
He's right. When it comes to residuals, there is no way that voice actors deserve that. They aren't the stars of the show. I'm all for improved working conditions but they need to lose the arrogant mind-set that they hold the same relative importance as an actor in a film or television series.

Also, I've read a few people say something like, "all the millions a game makes goes to the fat cats in charge," which is just silly. As with most industries, most of the revenue is rolled right back into production. Why is that incredibly important? Because that revenue is used to make more games.

I hardly think that's true. Activision is one of the publishers that this strike is about, so let's use CoD as an example. Modern Warfare 2 had a budget of $250 million, $50 million of which was the production budget. Modern Warfare 2's revenue was over $1 billion. $1 billion - $250 million leaves $750 million. Where did that $750 million go? It didn't go to the developers, there's a few hundred of them which get paid about $70,000 a year on average ($70,000 times 300 developers is $21m as an example). It didn't go to the voice actors, they probably made even less from MW2 than the develoeprs did. It didn't go to the next CoD game, Black Ops 1, it's budget was approximately the same as MW2's. So where did it go? A hefty portion of it went to pay the bloated salaries of Activision executives like Bobby Kotick and Erik Hirshberg. The rest, who knows where it went, Activision probably squandered it on their other smaller developers, most of which have collapsed since MW2 released because their games flopped. 

It goes into everything.  Every upcoming game we know about and those that we don't know about.  Also, I'm sure I don't have to point out that we're talking about revenue, not profit, so things like operating expense and taxes come off the top.



DonFerrari on 02 December 2016
shikamaru317 said:
DonFerrari said:

It's actors that think they deserve better payment, but not through negotiating their value but demanding through unions. So if you think even the ones that are paid enough are complaining them you see there is a parcel of entitlement.

No they aren't forced to work 2nd or 3rd. The VA is the 2nd or 3rd. If I pay soccer class and train every day but only get to play once or twice a year while working as Manager in a bank am I a soccer player or a bank Manager?

Getting a couple hundred for a day of work isn't shabby. The work you get to do 3 times a year for a few days shouldn't be the one paying your bills.

And living near your work is a responsibility of yourself not the company, they could just dismiss the candidate that doesn't live near if you want them to pay the cost of transport. The company paying that cost is only reasonable in basically two conditions you are close the company but they need you to go to a far away place or you are an specialist being hired for a specific issue and you'll charge all costs, fees and wage to go.

They have tried negotiating, they spent the last 18 months before the strike started negotiating with the publishers in question, and the best offer they got was pathetic, hense why they are striking now. 

The problem is that there isn't some mecca of voice acting when it comes to video games. It's not like movie and tv acting where you simply move to LA if you want to find work. Many game studios do their recording in studio, and video game studios are spread all around the world, so the actors are forced to fly to get there to record their lines. If game studios would be more open about letting actors record their lines from a recording studio near them, it wouldn't be an issue, but due to the high level of secrecy involved with game development, developers like to record the lines in a controlled environment, ie their own studio. So yes, it should be the respnsibility of the company to pay for the flight.

Nope, I'm trying about each person negotiating their working conditions/payments instead of wanting person that generate very little value earning the same that one that does a good value.

Nope if you aren't company employee you shouldn't expect they to pay for your cost, the company can just easily hire someone closer to the studio. Is not like there is much difference to the company hiring Jane Doe or Doe Jane to act a unimportant person in the game.

Funny enough one of the culprits for the rise in production costs in VG is voice acting.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

DonFerrari on 02 December 2016
KLXVER said:
DonFerrari said:

Have they put any clause that they will return their wages if the game doesn't turn profitable or even pay up for the costs of making the game? I bet they didn't.

I highly doubt that

Because people only want the money of other people risks.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

DonFerrari on 02 December 2016
shikamaru317 said:
DonFerrari said:

Nope, I'm trying about each person negotiating their working conditions/payments instead of wanting person that generate very little value earning the same that one that does a good value.

Nope if you aren't company employee you shouldn't expect they to pay for your cost, the company can just easily hire someone closer to the studio. Is not like there is much difference to the company hiring Jane Doe or Doe Jane to act a unimportant person in the game.

Funny enough one of the culprits for the rise in production costs in VG is voice acting.

You underestimate the skill that even small voice acting parts take. Developers have tried hiring random Joe's and Jane's that live down the street to voice act in the past, the results were awful. Stuff like this happens when you hie people with no voice acting talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pD83hmKjr0

Yes, I know Sony done that for Portuguese VA and it got quite bad. But that is a risk they will go if the cost get higher.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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KLXVER on 02 December 2016
DonFerrari said:
KLXVER said:

I highly doubt that

Because people only want the money of other people risks.

Its insane. This shit might fly in Hollywood, but Im glad publishers havent given in to their demands....yet. Im afraid they might be bullied into doing it.



Chazore on 02 December 2016

With the money he's made, his general popularity and the position he's in, he can very much afford to toss fellow VA's under the bus over and over.

I like some of the characters he's voiced, but I don't agree with what he said last night and promptly throwing others under the bus. I also never expect anyone here who are for devs and don't give two shits about VA's to ever understand nor come to reason for them either, just how people roll.

 

People that worship the pubs over actors, the same pubs that swindle money from their consumers, the same that doll out season passes to gouge more and also bring studios to a close, they make me sick.



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So pay up motherfuckers you belong to "V"

Zkuq on 02 December 2016

A lot of people participating in game development get paid way less than they probably deserve, and the same probably goes for a lot of other industries as well. That said, I do agree with his point. There's a lot of people that are more important to a game success.



SvennoJ on 02 December 2016

Interesting to see so many people side with the publishers. Perhaps thinking voice acting isn't real work? Or that they're all like Nolan North and just want to get more rich easily? Or maybe fear that if this strike is successful, artists and sound designers/composers might follow, then programmers and QA as well.

Some day the era of overproduced games on the back of underpaid talent will end. Is it going to be a hard crash or a soft landing. With the general attitude of lazy developers, cheap cash ins, over priced games, I wonder how much longer this breakneck pace in the video games industry will be sustainable.



Slimebeast on 02 December 2016

Nolan Noreth is right! The other voice actors are selfish, money-hungry assholes who demand special privilege.

Voice acting is a very easy and comfortable job and should be paid much less than cleaning toilets or flipping burgers for example.