I’m sure it’ll work out this time!
The Western games industry is in rapid decline, with various corporations aligning themselves with globalist ESG agendas. This shift disrupts creativity, resulting in subpar products filled with “woke” propaganda.
The diversity hires responsible for these losses have recently formed unions to protect themselves from being easily fired, as many game companies undergo massive layoffs to trim excess headcounts.
Now, the Western video games industry faces another setback as SAG-AFTRA calls for a strike of voice actors over concerns about AI usage.
In September 2023, SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) authorized a strike in the video games industry due to fears of developers using artificial intelligence for voice synthesizing.
By early January 2024, the strike ended with SAG-AFTRA signing a deal allowing AI voices in video games.
However, the agreement, which was meant to facilitate AI replication fairly and ethically with a specific AI company, did not satisfy Western voice actors. They have called for another strike, citing concerns that AI voice morphing and synthesis will put them out of jobs.
SAG-AFTRA’s strike covers “all covered services,” meaning their actors will not perform any union work for video games until the strike ends. Officially, SAG-AFTRA is negotiating with a “convenience bargaining group” that includes Activision, Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices, EA, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac, Llama Productions, Take-Two, VoiceWorks Productions, and WB Games.
These companies represent the larger industry, but are not the only ones affected by the strike.
The strike could halt the production of some video games, impacting large-scale companies like Take-Two Interactive, Insomniac Games, and Activision. However, since voice acting can occur before or after a product’s announcement, fans may not know which unannounced projects are affected. Hopefully it’s GTA 6 because that game being delayed would likely send the industry into a panic.
Voice actors are concerned about AI competition because machine modulation of voices is more cost-effective and, with enough development, can match the performance quality of human actors. Most voice actors in the Western region (especially America) feel threatened as AI-generated voices are cheaper and can work anytime, offering developers more flexibility.
As SAG-AFTRA states on its website:
“Actors are workers. Like all workers, game performers deserve to make a living under conditions that are safe and humane.
“Additionally, your favorite performances are brought to life through the artistry of human actors who improvise, tap into personal experiences, and collaborate with writers and directors to create a performance that only they could provide. No two actors are the same, and every performance is unique.
“Generative A.I. tools threaten to replace these artists with derivative, machine-recycled performance, lacking perspective or surprise. A.I.-generated performances will not carry the originality, pathos or humor of an actual human actor.”
At its core, this issue is about job security amidst a revolution that threatens to render voice actors obsolete, much like what’s happening with translation. Companies like Orange Inc are revolutionizing the distribution of Japanese manga with AI-generated translations.
These translations are not only cheaper than human workers but also avoid the deliberate defacement of source material with memes, slang, trans revisionism or politicized bullshit.
Western voice actors have consistently shown consumers that they are not to be trusted, that they aren’t worth the investment. Their efforts often fall short, and they cannot always be trusted to deliver quality performances.
Take, for example, Hellena Taylor, the voice of Bayonetta, who publicly slandered her employers at Platinum Games by claiming the studio offered her a mere $4,000 to reprise her role in Bayonetta 3.
Turns out she lied.
Then there was the debacle involving YouTuber-turned-voice-actor “ProZD.” He complained about being racially segregated from voice acting roles, despite having been a strong advocate for fictional characters of ethnic backgrounds to be portrayed by individuals of the same race.
Women should voice women, Asians should voice Asians, and Blacks should voice Black characters, ProZD got his wish but then complained when he was turned down for roles voicing White characters and obviously racism was to blame for that.
This push for “authentic” casting aims to bring more “diverse talent” into the industry, which nowadays means predominantly queer or non-binary actors.
This was evident in the recent racially motivated “boycott” of Genshin Impact, where progressive Western activists were outraged that miHoYo, a Chinese company, didn’t include characters who were Black or dark enough for their preferences.
The social media campaign to boycott the game by continuing to play it centered around the upcoming “Natlan region” expansion, believed to be inspired by African and Latin American cultures.
Activists claimed the game was “whitewashing” characters they felt should be darker, despite Genshin Impact’s history of turning demons and deities into cute girls.
This outrage conveniently ignores other instances of cultural appropriation, such as Assassin’s Creed portraying Yasuke as an African samurai, or Hades 2 depicting Greek gods as Black.
Western voice actors contracted by miHoYo for the English dub of Genshin Impact have spoken out in support of the vocal minority producing “fix it” artwork, which involves altering the official character designs to add “more melanin” or, in other words, turning the characters Black.
Valeria Rodriguez, a queer non-binary voice actor who voices Sucrose, a playable character in Genshin Impact’s English dub, has also expressed support for this movement.
Ariana Rosario, a bisexual Dominican-American who voices various NPC characters, also expressed her disgust at her contractor, accusing them of being vile racists by being one herself.
Dani Chambers, the English voice behind Nilou, another playable character, promoted and praised the “fixed it” artwork of one of the upcoming characters to be introduced in the Natlan expansion.
Just in case you were wondering, Nilou is depicted as an Asian character.
Additionally, English voice actors refused to reprise their roles for Snowbreak: Containment Zone after the game reinvented itself and found new life by focusing on male-centric fan service.
This new direction ultimately saved the game from being terminated, allowing it to acquire enough finances and interest to reprise the English voice cast they had previously abandoned due to financial struggles. However, the voice actors rejected the offer because of the game’s new direction.
Voice actors today are activists, just like game developers and journalists, this poses a significant challenge for foreign companies outsourcing their work.
They are forced to work with individuals who align with these activist sentiments “anti-racist” racists who want to Blackwash Chinese characters, trans people demanding to voice only trans characters, or whatever sexuality they identify as and voice actors who speak out against their contractors or refuse to work on a product because it’s too sexy for their tastes.
Some even outright lie about the compensation offered to them to reprise their roles, as if getting paid tens of thousands of dollars for a few hours in a recording booth is a backbreaking exercise that warrants better rights.
Voice actors should be paid what they’re worth. But what are they worth exactly?
There are many high-quality voice actors who do amazing work. However, the majority of those currently in the field seem either unable to act well or simply don’t care. Unfortunately, the sheer number of bad actors has overshadowed those with genuine talent and charisma.
For instance, SEGA’s decision to hire political drama YouTuber turned voice actor “YongYea” for the role of Kiryu, the most recognizable character in the Yakuza series, was met with universal criticism for good reason.
The scrawny YouTuber couldn’t act, didn’t fit the character at all, and his delivery was a complete travesty.
Naturally, as a social media figure, he couldn’t handle the criticism of his poor acting, so he resorted to blocking anyone with functional ears who pointed it out.
Other issues arise with characters like Wuk Lamat from Final Fantasy XIV. This humanoid furry character, perceived as an uninteresting Mary Sue, was voiced by a transgender voice actor, seemingly due to identity politics given the characters masculine appearance and nature.
The character is presented as an obvious self-insert, written in an over-the-top manner and thrust into the player’s face throughout Final Fantasy XIV’s recent Dawntrail expansion. The English voice acting was so abysmal that even Redditors resorted to switching the audio to Japanese to escape it.
The industry is in freefall. Quality workers are being displaced simply because they don’t tout the narrative and praise the message, such as what happened to Vic Mignogna, an American voice actor known for his anime dub roles as Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and Broly in the Dragon Ball series.
Mignogna was a beloved voice actor in English anime dubbing which is a RARITY to say the least, the man quite literally looks like a personification of the “Chad” meme, was blacklisted from the industry over false allegations of sexual harassment and assault made against him by ugly and resentful women.
Now, the industry is left with YouTubers with no voice acting experience and progressive trans, queer, non-binary, BIPOC activists who proactively undermine the industry and underdeliver in their performances.
For instance, a transgender voice actor hired to voice “The Unknown” in Dead by Daylight 2 had a temper tantrum and demanded reparations, claiming that the character they portrayed, a disfigured and disgusting blob of flesh in a survival horror game was offensive to trans people.
Artificial Intelligence can save us from having to worry about these talentless hacks infecting our beloved industries. Fans of Resident Evil weren’t happy with Lily Gao’s poor performance as Ada Wong in Capcom’s Remake of Resident Evil 4.
The backlash against her acting skills led her to pull out the race card to deflect criticism.
Nevertheless, dedicated fans have stepped up by creating an AI-generated voice replacement mod for Ada Wong in Resident Evil 4, delivering a more authentic representation of the character and a voice that fans actually prefer.
It’s understandable why SAG-AFTRA are so wary of artificial intelligence. When consumers, who have far fewer resources than developers and industrial companies can produce near-perfect AI voice synthesis, it highlights the disconnect between the industry’s progressive activists and the capabilities of modern technology which can and WILL replace them.
As of this post, the SAG-AFTRA strike has only just begun, so any deal reached soon may have minimal impact. However, if the strike drags on for weeks or months, we could see delays in upcoming games.
Given that many of these games are developed to align with BlackRock’s ESG and DEI policies, focused on diversity and inclusivity, I’m not particularly concerned about such delays, in fact I hope they drag this out as long as they can.
I wish SAG-AFTRA the best in their effort to extract as much money from a dying industry as possible. The longer they refuse to work, the more developers will be left without motion capture or voice actors, increasing the demand for AI-generated voice acting.
The more these activists push for unrealistic demands, the faster they accelerate their own downfall. Between their lackluster performances, their insistence on racial segregation of fictional characters, their refusal to work on “problematic” titles, and their opposition to their own employers in the name of diversity and inclusion, they’ve given consumers little reason to value their presence in the industry.
They’re neither worth the hassle nor the expense.
