SAG-AFTRA Signs New Contract Concluding Video Game Strike
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- A new contract signed by SAG-AFTRA and major video game companies went into effect on July 9, 2025.
- The strike against the unauthorized use of AI began on July 26, 2024.
- The union’s members ratified the agreement by a vote of 95.04% to 4.96%, concluding the video game strike, which lasted almost a year.
A new contract between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and major video game and media production companies took effect on July 9, 2025.
Among the companies that signed the 2025 Interactive Media Agreement were Activision, Blindlight, Disney, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take-Two, Warner Bros. Games and Electronic Arts.
According to an official statement from SAG-AFTRA, the union’s members ratified the agreement by a vote of 95.04% to 4.96%, officially concluding the video game strike, which had already been suspended pending ratification a month earlier.
The agreement provides compensation raises for performers of 15.17%, plus extra 3% increases in November 2025, November 2026 and November 2027. On top of that, the overtime rate maximum for overscale performers will now be based on double scale.
The new agreement also outlines that health and retirement contribution rates to the AFTRA Retirement Fund will now be raised from 16.5% to 17% and then to 17.5% in October 2026.
Following a year and a half of failed negotiations with video game companies over protections against the unauthorized use of AI to replicate actors’ voices and likenesses, the SAG-AFTRA strike lasted almost a year since it began on July 26, 2024.
Notably, the strike has had some legal impact. On Sept. 17, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom officially signed two bills — AB 2602 and AB 1836 — which respectively grant protections against AI being used on living performers and against AI being used on deceased performers, granting rights to their successors to use their appearance and voice.
