SAG-AFTRA performers to hold first strike picket outside WB Games

SAG-AFTRA video game performers will hold their first strike picket on Thursday, August 1, outside WB Games Inc in Burbank, California.

The union called a strike last week in a bid to force major studios to include AI protections in the Interactive Media Agreement that covers performers in the game industry.

SAG-AFTRA has spent around 18 months negotiating with studios to secure better working conditions, wage increases, and AI protections–but claimed employers failed to provide the latter.

SAG-AFTRA striking to avoid "flagrant exploitation"

"Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation," said Interactive Media Agreement negotiating committee chair, Sarah Elmaleh, when calling the strike.

"We refuse this paradigm—via we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our Interim and Independent contracts, which provide AI transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve."

Elmaleh will join performers on the picket line at Gate 5 on the corner of Warner Blvd. on Thursday alongside other SAG-AFTRA committee members Zeke Alton, Ashly Burch, Andi Norris, and more. SAG-AFTRA leadership including national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland will also be in attendance.

"SAG-AFTRA is striking this contract so that members working in interactive media (video games) can continue earning a living doing the job they love," said the union in a press release. "Our members' work and likenesses are being exploited by artificial intelligence, and video game companies have refused to offer a fair deal that addresses this existential threat."