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Friday, October 25, 2024
SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike: Union and Companies to Resume Talks
www.hollywoodreporter.com: More than two months into SAG-AFTRA‘s strike against video game companies, the union and the bargaining group representing employers have set a return to the bargaining table.
3 comments:
JFleck
said...
The companies behind Triple A games have been profiting thousands upon thousands of truckloads of a hundred-dollar bills. An amount that could not fit within banks if it was not digital. The use of AI to reduce the cost of game creation and to increase profits benefits the companies, not the workers. The workers will be cut loose the second before they become obsolete to the companies. The companies have no loyalty to the people that bring them billions of dollars year in, year out and this is where the provisions for AI come into play. The “24 out of 25” provisions being met is painting a picture that does not reflect the future that these workers will experience. The bargaining leaders want to make it seem like this provision is worth letting go so they can increase their profits to even more astronomical heights when they can cut the costs of people’s lives from their black charts.
The video game industry has such a high profit margin, and it has grown so much in the last 10 years. While the work required to make these newer games has gone up, the prices seem to have gone up at a much higher rate regardless of the work required to make it. Having this industry incorporate AI instead of real workers would have many bad consequences, the largest of which would be the fact that real people would be laid off to cut costs of production. Some other consequences would be games having weaker and repetitive story lines, and they could start using voice actors voices without actually paying them for being present in production. Relying on AI draws a fine line in the world of business ethics, and I feel like most companies shouldn't be trusted to make that decision.
This article is proof that strikes will never end and the entertainment industry will continue to fight for the rights of their workers. AI is an especially controversial subject right now and after months of striking in the film industry people might think everything is fine and dandy now. The video game industry directly correlates with some of the main uses of AI. Generating a world in which people can login and play on through digital software is easily done by AI. So establishing laws and regulation to protect the people behind contextualizing the working of a video game is extremely important. But it is baffling to me that this is the first time I am hearing about any of this. The film strike was incredibly well known and now that the video game industry has gone on strike nobody knows about it. This is saddening to hear because if the video game industry had the help of the general public the big firms might be more open to negotiation.
3 comments:
The companies behind Triple A games have been profiting thousands upon thousands of truckloads of a hundred-dollar bills. An amount that could not fit within banks if it was not digital. The use of AI to reduce the cost of game creation and to increase profits benefits the companies, not the workers. The workers will be cut loose the second before they become obsolete to the companies. The companies have no loyalty to the people that bring them billions of dollars year in, year out and this is where the provisions for AI come into play. The “24 out of 25” provisions being met is painting a picture that does not reflect the future that these workers will experience. The bargaining leaders want to make it seem like this provision is worth letting go so they can increase their profits to even more astronomical heights when they can cut the costs of people’s lives from their black charts.
The video game industry has such a high profit margin, and it has grown so much in the last 10 years. While the work required to make these newer games has gone up, the prices seem to have gone up at a much higher rate regardless of the work required to make it. Having this industry incorporate AI instead of real workers would have many bad consequences, the largest of which would be the fact that real people would be laid off to cut costs of production. Some other consequences would be games having weaker and repetitive story lines, and they could start using voice actors voices without actually paying them for being present in production. Relying on AI draws a fine line in the world of business ethics, and I feel like most companies shouldn't be trusted to make that decision.
This article is proof that strikes will never end and the entertainment industry will continue to fight for the rights of their workers. AI is an especially controversial subject right now and after months of striking in the film industry people might think everything is fine and dandy now. The video game industry directly correlates with some of the main uses of AI. Generating a world in which people can login and play on through digital software is easily done by AI. So establishing laws and regulation to protect the people behind contextualizing the working of a video game is extremely important. But it is baffling to me that this is the first time I am hearing about any of this. The film strike was incredibly well known and now that the video game industry has gone on strike nobody knows about it. This is saddening to hear because if the video game industry had the help of the general public the big firms might be more open to negotiation.
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