On October 21st 2016, SAG-AFTRA, which represents the rights and safety of voice actors in the video game industry, announced that negotiations regarding an update to their Interactive Contract, established in 1994, have fallen through. In protest to this turn of events, SAG-AFTRA have announced that they are going on strike against various companies who currently have games which entered production after February 17th, 2015.

 

Disney Character Voices, Inc. was included in the list of companies being protested. In addition, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue was among the specific video games listed. This means that any actor who is part of the union and who is currently working on Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue must withdraw their services. SAG-AFTRA has also encouraged those who are not members of the union to participate, although their involvement in the protest is not mandatory. Due to the proximity of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue's release next year, it is unknown if this protest will have an impact on the game's voice acting and overall development. The official bulletin can be viewed here.

 

 

 

The strike will take place on Monday October 24th 2016, with SAG-AFTRA encouraging those who cannot attend to tweet or follow #performancematters in solidarity.

 

Do you think this strike will affect Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue or any future Kingdom Hearts titles? Let us know in the comments!

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 This was in the strike order announcment, so if 2.8 started dev before February 17, 2015 then it should continue production as planned.  I believe KH3 started dev in June 2013 so it, too, should be exempt from the strike.

Tbh, I get the sense that they've all pretty much recorded anyways.

Hmm, this is interesting! Thanks for this article, WayfindersDestiny!

 

I find that it's messed up how people discredit voice actors, when their work brings life to video game characters, ya know?  The hard work that goes into video game voice acting is considerable! Heck, all voice acting in general is important, as it gives voices to the animated and hand drawn figments we see before our eyes, improving quality of said products, ya know?  Hope all these voice actors that will be participating in the strike make their voices heard! Cuz their health is important, ya know?

 

I wouldn't worry too much about 2.8, since the game is practically all finished up, and any small thing left is probably to tune the gameplay and tweak the graphics, ya know? So I wouldn't worry too much!

F***, I hope not. Seriously, I've waited too long for this game only to have the voice acting "rug" swept out from underneath me.

Naturally, there are people more concerned about the game being delayed rather than the rights of Voice Actors being dismissed. I'd go into more detail, but frankly, I would only end up ranting and demeaning those who think that way.

 

Seriously, the negotiators had the nerve to say that "no one cares about the voice"...just how out of touch can someone get with reality? You merely have to look at say, Tara Strong's Twitter Feed for more than a few seconds just to see the considerable amount of love and appreciation she receives for the voices she provides.

 

As someone who is an aspiring Voice Actor, I can say this with full confidence: The voice matters and you damn well know it.

 

#performancematters

 

What the negotiators said has to be the most cringeworthy quote I've ever heard. That's like saying the fans don't give a sugar-honey-iced-tea about these characters the VAs voiced let along their Voice Sessions they have to do and the time they put into. Just reading what they said, makes me sick. Surely, they care about their business, and possibly won't let a single thread of reality hit them. Just dealing with life in the real world. This whole mess reminds me of what I've listened to yesterday from Steve Blum. The problems the VAs are facing when it comes to their VA job. 

 

If only these idiots knew, the very things we feel as we hear the voices of the characters, coming from the VAs. From our struggles with life, there are some folks that are inspired as they play these video games and hearing the voice work coming from the VAs, and also it brings up their spirits more than one way. It really makes them feel good about themselves. I mean come on! Here they are saying that nobody cares about the voices?! Of course we do care! 

 

To me, I'm not sure about other people, but as they are voicing the characters, no matter if it's good or bad the performance is, I can feel the emotions displayed as they do their VA work. The happiness, the sadness, the anger, fear. Regarding a sad dark moment, it makes me feel bad for the character within the story.

Edited October 24, 20169 yr by RikuFangirl2008

I strongly encourage people interested in this to follow and view the #performancematters twitter tag, a lot of well known American VAs have been tweeting about this issue and offering insight as well as links to related articles to explain the issue further.

F***, I hope not. Seriously, I've waited too long for this game only to have the voice acting "rug" swept out from underneath me.

Aren't you concerned about the bigger implications about this? This is an equivalent to a person's rights at work...

I highly doubt this will affect 2.8. The voice acting is most likely long done by now. I think they just listed all unreleased games that the voice actors in the union are in, even if there job is done. This may affect Kingdom Hearts 3 but I have a feeling it will be resolved before it could.

Hopefully they started voice acting for HD2.8 long before the strike.

Aren't you concerned about the bigger implications about this? This is an equivalent to a person's rights at work...

Of course I am, I care deeply about VA's working rights as well as anyone else's. But as a consumer I also have a right to be concerned about the product as well. Is it so wrong to hope that things can be settled without the game being compromised? The bottom line is that everyone's interests are at risk here, so this needs to be settled effectively and quickly so that no one gets screwed over in the end, VA or consumer alike.