Take-Two has suggested that development of Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t be held up if members of SAG-AFTRA, the labour union for American actors, decide to proceed with potential video game strike action.
Union members recentlyvoted 98.32% in favour of strike authorisationregarding the Interactive Media Agreement, which covers members’ work on video games.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean a strike is going to be called, it does mean that if SAG-AFTRA doesn’t get terms it considers acceptable while negotiating the Interactive Media Agreement, it can call a strike right away, knowing its members already support the decision.
SAG-AFTRA has been in negotiations with a number of video game companies and their performance production arms since October 2022, includingActivision,EA,Epic GamesandTake-Two.
So far negotiations have failed due to what SAG-AFTRA calls unacceptable terms on “some of the issues most critical to our members, including wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence, and basic safety precautions”.
During Take-Two’s earnings call on Wednesday, CEOStrauss Zelnicksaid he was optimistic about reaching an agreement when talks resume this month, but also noted that the company is “completed protected” if negotiations don’t go to plan.
During a Q&A session, he was asked: “If voice actors and motion capture were to go on strike, would it slow down the production of the next Grand Theft Auto atRockstar? Does Rockstar have the type of employment contracts that would allow the actors to work through a strike?”
“Negotiations are expected to resume next week,” Zelnick responded. “We’re optimistic, we value all of our talent greatly, we value excellent labour relations and we’re looking forward to reaching an agreement that serves everyone well.
“That’s always been my approach,” he continued. “I’ve been involved with labour negotiations in every entertainment industry there is in my career and they’ve always worked out just fine. In the event that they don’t work out just fine, we are completely protected.”
Rockstar announced earlier today thatGrand Theft Auto 6will receive its first trailer in Decemberto coincide with the studio’ 25th anniversary.
