Results from a union member vote on a tentative contract between video game performers and their employers are expected Wednesday evening.
If ratified, the contract would formally end a nearly three-year-long effort from Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists negotiators to obtain a new contract for video game performers. The process, which included an 11-month strike against several major game makers, hinged on how artificial intelligence would affect performers in the industry.
If approved, the agreement will deliver pay raises, control over performers' likenesses and artificial intelligence protections. The contract was first reached in early June between the union and an industry bargaining group consisting of several major video game companies, including divisions of Activision and Electronic Arts. The nearly year-long strike was suspended on June 11 and about 3,000 SAG-AFTRA members covered by the interactive media agreement have had since June 18 to vote.
Results will be announced soon after the vote ends at 5 p.m. Pacific.
The 11-month strike "was a grueling and excruciating process, " Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator said before the voting period closed.