SAG-AFTRA, Video Game Companies to Hold Contract Talks for First Time Since Actors Strike Called (EXCLUSIVE)
Amid the ongoing actors strike against major video game publishers, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee and the bargaining group for the companies have agreed to return to the table on Oct. 23 to continue talks.
The strike began July 26 following months of stalled negotiations on the terms of a new Interactive Media Agreement between the parties. The last in-person bargaining session with the negotiating committees took place Nov. 14-16, 2023.
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Since then, the negotiating teams for the video game companies and SAG-AFTRA have continued exchanging proposals and have reached agreements on 24 out of the 25 total proposals at hand, but have not returned to the table.
“SAG-AFTRA and the convenience bargaining group with whom the union negotiates its Interactive Media Agreement will resume negotiations on Wednesday, Oct. 23,” the union and video game publishers said in a joint statement Tuesday. “The convenience bargaining group includes Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. No further comment is available from either party at this time.”
The decision to set an Oct. 23 date to get back to the bargaining table comes on the heels of SAG-AFTRA’s Sept. 24 announcement that Riot Games‘ “League of Legends” has been added to the list of blocked titles, after previously being exempt from the strike, amid the union’s accusation of unfair labor practices against Formosa Interactive.
According to SAG-AFTRA, Formosa, a union signatory that provides voiceover services for “League of Legends,” is accused of trying to “cancel” one of its struck video games “shortly after the start of SAG-AFTRA’s video game strike” on July 26.
While SAG-AFTRA is not accusing Riot Games’ “League of Legends of unfair labor practices, it is calling for a strike against the game because it is the most high profile title produced by Formosa Interactive, a member of the convenience bargaining group returning to the negotiations table on Oct. 23, and a way to draw the companies’ and the public’s attentions to the issue.
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