SAG-AFTRA allows young game devs to work with union performers currently on strike

Amidst the largest ongoing video game strike by SAG-AFTRA, the union has now announced two waivers allowing game developers to work with actors. These are the Student Interactive Waiver Agreement and the Game Jam Waiver Agreement which will help passionate and aspiring game devs to get an idea of how things work in game development.

“With these new agreements, SAG-AFTRA can help support game developers at all levels who want to work with union talent and who want to learn more about producing video games under a union contract. Our members are passionate about this industry and they want to be able to participate in these types of projects where the future of video games is being shaped,” the announcement said.

There are requirements for the waivers

Since the actors are taking part in an ongoing strike, there are a few ground rules to both waivers. The Student Interactive Waiver Agreement notes that the projects must be owned by students and ‘must be recorded entirely in the United States’. The student must also be either at the undergraduate or graduate level.

As for the Game Jam Waiver Agreement as the name suggests is for games being developed for themed Game Jams. The Project must be started from scratch with no prior recorded material. If the project creates revenue, SAG-AFTRA will work with both parties to come to an appropriate payment agreement.

Also Read: Two games from Kojima Productions suffers delay due to SAG-AFTRA Strike

SAG-AFTRA video game strike continues

The SAG-AFTRA video game strike has been going on for a long time and a recent update revealed that the strike will continue for a bit longer. This was due to multiple loopholes found in the agreement and the union is making sure to cover all bases before proceeding.

For those still out of the loop, the SAG-AFTRA video game strike is against the use of Actor’s performance to train AI models which can replace them in the future without and form of compensation. Over 160,000 talented actors are taking part in the strike which has resulted in low number of western AAA titles