As a person who plays video games, you may have noticed that some of your favorite characters have no dialogue or a sound that is different from before. This could be due to the recent voice actor strikes within the video game industry.
Why are voice actors on strike?
With the advancement of AI technology in 2020, game developers have seen an opportunity to reduce the amount of labor costs and increase productivity by replacing human actors with AI. This caused mass layoffs in the video game industry and led to many concerns about future sustainability in game development. This caused the cancellation of game projects and shutdowns of studios. AI has been proven effective in reducing or even eliminating the cost of hiring voice actors. Motion capture studios can charge up to $500-$2000 per hour, while non-union voice actors could make $450-$2000 per hour. Yet even with the positive financial effects of AI replacing voice actors in the game industry, this can also lead to concerns from voice actors with unwanted replication of their voice and likeness, as well as a loss of job security.
Which games are affected by the voice actor strikes?
Some games have already experienced voice actor strikes; games such as Geshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail were some of the first to experience the effects of voice actor strikes. Recently in Genshin Impact, in the 5.1 update archon quests characters such as Kinich (John Patneaude) and Ajaw (Abby Espiritu) had no dialogue in the story due to their actors going on strike. In addition, in the following 5.2 update, another character Iansan (Katrina Salisbury) also has no dialogue in the story due to the voice actor strike. Honkai: Star Rail is facing the effects of the voice actor strike, recently in the 2.7 updates a new character named “Fugue” voiced by Anya Floris is the resurrected five-star version of the four-star Tingyun who Laci Morgan plays. Due to the strike, Anya Floris also had to take the role of Tingyun because of Laci’s absence. This left fans confused and upset about the voice changes.
What can you do to help?
One solution for the voice actor strikes is to stop promoting AI voice usage. AI voice usage is constantly used on social media apps and is commonly used for skits. However, due to the voices sounding highly realistic and identical to the real actors, this promotes companies to use it instead of their workers.
Picture of Honaki star rail 2.7 update cover:
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Picture of Genshin Impact 5.1 Update Cover:
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Picture of Genshin Impact 5.2 update cover:
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Picture of Honkai: Star Rail character “Fugue”:
Sources:
Picture Sources:
https://www.oneesports.gg (Photo for Fugue)
https://www.oneesports.gg (Photo For 2.7 update)
