Kotaku: Video Game Strike Vote Coming – …a strike is on the table for video game actors. […] The industry says the main disagreement is about the details of residuals, that’s the money actors receive which is based on game sales. The union wants it built on a sliding scale that is based on sales, while publishers want to make a single up-front payment.
Er…
Can Mario picket a virtual line or something?
In other posts, the union was offered something like a 39% increase over the next three years, instead of film/music-based royalities based system of residuals – scaled on a percentage of net, meaning entirely on performance – so it’s not like they’re not getting something in way of a raise. To me, I’d go with the 39% – the sure thing – rather than a kickback… for every “successful” game that comes out there’s gotta be another fifty that crash and burn with no fanfare at all.
I’m betting all of the actors that vote strike think that they’ll be casted in the next version The Sims or something.
Ha!
Is this for real?- or is it in the same category as “outtakes” for movies like Toy Story or Monsters, Inc?
I guess it means the actors who do the voices- but I like the idea of the Marios carrying picket signs in cyberspace…
It’s for real. I would expect it in Japan, where game fans actually know (and follow) the actors that do the voices for games, but in the US it threw me for a loop… the only time I would have expected this was the era of the mid-90’s when people like Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and the like were “starring” in the games… it was cheaper to cast real actors and digitize the film than it was to animate the lot. But these are also people that do voices for cartoons, so that should be part of the actor’s guild.
I dunno – I’m at a loss.