SAG-AFTRA

01/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/08/2024 01:18

SAG AFTRA Podcast: “The Human Art Behind Game Performance: Comic Con 2024”

https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-podcast-%E2%80%9C-human-art-behind-game-performance-comic-con-2024%E2%80%9D

August 1, 2024

Top game performers share their experiences at the gaming industry's most notable event.

A strike is a last resort. No one wants to go on strike. We're up against, frankly, an existential threat to our profession in the form of A.I. As you've probably heard from other entertainment strikes, A.I. is a huge concern. It's especially a huge concern for our professions, for voice actors and movement performers. We have to take a stand because the protections that our employers have put across the table are woefully insufficient and are going to put a lot of people out of work.

Ashly Burch

Actor & SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Negotiating Committee Member

Behind nearly every favorite video game character's most iconic line of dialogue or power move is a performer. The decisions made by voice and performance capture artists have helped make games and their stories popular in the mainstream, have inspired legions of fans behind characters - and, in some cases, have changed the trajectory of some characters' stories.

The work of video game performers is vital to the gaming industry, yet artificial intelligence threatens to take away roles that are pivotal to their careers and livelihoods. In response to this growing threat, SAG-AFTRA members working in the industry declared a strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. on July 25, and in the days following, took the fight to San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

This episode is a replay of SAG-AFTRA's July 26 Comic-Con panel, The Human Art Behind Game Performance. The panel included the industry's top performers, Ashly Burch (Horizon Zero Dawn) and Shannon Woodward (Last of Us), and members of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Committee, Chair Sarah Elmaleh (Final Fantasy XV) and member Noshir Dalal (Red Dead Redemption II). The group talks about the unique challenges of voice, facial and movement performance in video games, the highs and lows of their professional careers, and the necessity of addressing the existential threat A.I. presents to performers and the industry at large.

Introduction by SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

A replay of the panel is available at sagaftra.org/videos.

Visit the SAG-AFTRA podcast page to hear other podcast episodes. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or TuneIn to listen to your favorite episodes on the go.

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA's endorsement.

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