VoiceGate: Videogame voice actors considering a strike, want to unionize

[Damned Registrations]

Don't think so, doing VA is not as simple as it sounds (lol just read the lines nigga). Which is why you see otherwise decent actors doing a shit job, like the known Bethesda examples and Dinklage (the dwarf guy from GoT), who voiced the robot buddy in Destiny for a while and now Nolan North is in his place (they blamed a schedule conflict but they aren't fooling anyone since North re-recorded everything from the beginning)

Isn't an otherwise decent actor doing a shit job evidence that the quality has less to do with the actor and more to do with the director/devs actually giving him more context for the lines than 'LOL you're a robot!'

Everything I've ever heard about the industry implies that most shitty voice acting can be chalked up to someone being given the script 30 seconds before they get shoved into a booth to do 2 takes and get sent home. I stands to reason that the opposite is also true- voice actors given proper direction and context for their script will do a good job if they have even a smidgeon of skill.

 

[pippin]

Yeah that would be the logical conclusion.

I also found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_"-gate"_suffix
It's worse than I thought.

Political corruption is le funny meme now XD

 

[Excidium II]

Better than flag saluting codex cuckservatives prattling on about the "free market" like corporate sheep.

Nice name.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

A union strike that tell people not use other people services....

That's kinda similar to forming an industrial size clique to demand everyone not to buy or play any games that they don't morally and politically approved of.
Then prodding their people to harass the devs of said games with death threats to them and their family members.

Lol, but that's just fantasy talk.
It's not like that kind of stuff have been unearthed just last year.

 

[Higher Animal]

A union strike that tell people not use other people services....

That's kinda similar to forming an industrial size clique to demand everyone not to buy or play any games that they don't morally and politically approved of.
Then prodding their people to harass the devs of said games with death threats to them and their family members.

Lol, but that's just fantasy talk.
It's not like that kind of stuff have been unearthed just last year.

Location:
Malaysia

 

[CyberWhale]

INB4 this leads to some really crazy shit...

No you fucking degenerates, just because a certain business endeavour leads to a huge amount of profits doesn't means that you should be paid extra shekels - that is for the investors who actually took a risk with their money. Want a piece of that pie? Well, today it doesn't matter if you are a VA or a programmer, going independent is easier than ever because of the Kickstarter and other similar crowdfunding platforms. Good luck.

 

[Severian Silk]

The Simpsons should be cancelled regardless.

(the Futurama cast, for example, got paid a boatload of cash, and I believe successfully negotiated royalties a few years before it ended)

The Futurama cast is Billy West and like two other people.

 

[Roguey]

Simpsons money has been "price of our dignity" for the past decade and more, they deserve it.

The writers definitely don't.

 

[Whiran]

I wish people would write the actual numbers when they write things like, "Developers in gaming get paid half that of other developers elsewhere."

I'm not sure what country / gaming companies they are looking at but the times that I've looked at posted positions in AAA companies the salaries were more than competitive.

For example, at Bioware a senior programmer gets paid between 111k / year to 120k / year. A senior programmer at IBM makes 60k to 105k a year.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/BioWare-Senior-Programmer-Salaries-E22998_D_KO8,25.htm
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/IBM-Senior-Developer-Salaries-E354_D_KO4,20.htm

Ubisoft Montreal has Senior Devs making around 90k / year.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Ubi...ies-EJI_IE12717.0,7_KO8,25_IL.26,34_IM990.htm
With the cost of living in Montreal being fairly low for a sizeable city that's decent as well.

Microsoft pays their Senior Devs between 115k to 160k / year.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Mic...ies-EJI_IE1651.0,9_KO10,35_IL.36,43_IM781.htm

QA on the other hand gets really crappy money (often at around the $12 - $16 / hour mark.)

What about "normal" devs then? After all not everyone is a senior developer.

A software engineer at Bioware averages 80k / year.
A project manager averages 80k / year.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/BioWare-Salaries-E22998.htm

Ubisoft pays junior devs around 50k / year.
https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Ubisoft-Junior-Programmer-Salaries-E12717_D_KO8,25.htm

Again, compared to programming salaries in other industries that's pretty standard.

There is a case to be made about overtime - however most AAA companies pay out bonuses that pretty much cover the overtime hours that are put in. As an aside, I've worked at a start-up as have a lot of my friends over the years. "Unpaid" overtime was / is the norm. The potential payoff would be the company becoming successful and getting compensation at that time.

 

[pippin]

The Futurama cast is Billy West and like two other people.

 

[J1M]

Whiran

It always surprises me how consistently project managers are overpaid. The job is that of a glorified errand boy who asks devs how long something will take and reports it up the chain of command. In terms of proving that game developers are underpaid and ancillary staff are overpaid we can stop right here, case closed.

There are some problems with comparing 'average' salaries in the software industry. Statistically, 'mean' and 'mode' are more important than 'median'. The way that you've contrasted sexy AAA studios with IBM is also misleading. The equivalent of Bioware and Ubisoft in the non-gaming software world are Google and Facebook. Consider that even interns in California are making more than $80,000 a year at Facebook, for example. Senior developers can easily receive offers of more than $150,000 a year at Google or startups.

Location has a massive factor to play in developer compensation. Not only due to cost of living differences, but also some states/provinces provide tax incentives that pay for 30-40% of developer salaries. $33,750 of that $90,000 programmer salary in Montreal is footed by tax payers. Traditional industries (databases, telecom, etc.) receive tax credits based on the number of hours of research performed, but those rebates don't come close to 37.5% of personnel costs.

Finally, the $50,000 a year that Ubisoft pays junior developers is about 25% less than the starting salary of junior developers outside of gaming. You can easily find exceptions to this, but not at reputable companies in cities with some sort of tech industry.

 

[SCO]

Isn't an otherwise decent actor doing a shit job evidence that the quality has less to do with the actor and more to do with the director/devs actually giving him more context for the lines than 'LOL you're a robot!'

Everything I've ever heard about the industry implies that most shitty voice acting can be chalked up to someone being given the script 30 seconds before they get shoved into a booth to do 2 takes and get sent home. I stands to reason that the opposite is also true- voice actors given proper direction and context for their script will do a good job if they have even a smidgeon of skill.

Since most games actual depth matches the non-guidance they give to voice actors no wonder it's most of it shit.

Quite frankly i'd worry more that a 'competent director' would making up stuff on the spot to disguise that the producers don't have a leg to stand on characterization and the writer was 'let go' just after he turned in draft 1 before the gameplay was finalized.

 

[deuxhero]

INB4 this leads to some really crazy shit...

No you fucking degenerates, just because a certain business endeavour leads to a huge amount of profits doesn't means that you should be paid extra shekels - that is for the investors who actually took a risk with their money. Want a piece of that pie? Well, today it doesn't matter if you are a VA or a programmer, going independent is easier than ever because of the Kickstarter and other similar crowdfunding platforms. Good luck.

I'm pretty sure the logic is more that you can't exactly get a replacement voice for Homer Simpson. It's simple supply (1 Homer) and demand.

 

[J1M]

I'm pretty sure the logic is more that you can't exactly get a replacement voice for Homer Simpson. It's simple supply (1 Homer) and demand.

Sure, but what is the logic behind paying the women who do one voice the same as the other 4 voice actors that do the whole show?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons#Voice_actors

Do the game voice actors who voice NPC#3 and NPC#5 get paid the same as the actor that does all the dialog for the main character?

 

[Ebonsword]

It is telling that as the manufacturing of the world shifted out of unionized environments over the last 30-40 years manufacturing quality has simultaneously declined precipitously.

You've obviously never owned an American car from the 1970's.

 

[bylam]

Isn't an otherwise decent actor doing a shit job evidence that the quality has less to do with the actor and more to do with the director/devs actually giving him more context for the lines than 'LOL you're a robot!'

Everything I've ever heard about the industry implies that most shitty voice acting can be chalked up to someone being given the script 30 seconds before they get shoved into a booth to do 2 takes and get sent home. I stands to reason that the opposite is also true- voice actors given proper direction and context for their script will do a good job if they have even a smidgeon of skill.

It can be both, but some actors are also shit. The quality of the writing matters (sometimes I'll rewrite something on the fly while we are doing a session in order to improve the clarity or just make it sounds like something somebody would say, rather than something somebody wrote). Some actors haven't read the script when they show up, even if they have had it for a week. Some actors are surly about being given direction etc.

Don't get me wrong, there is no excuse for the type of voices that Bethesda have in their games. It's lazy writing and direction for the most part. If we have a recording session and then we don't like the voice work once we get it into the game, we'll record it again. Voice recording isn't that expensive if you plan well and actually care. There's no real excuse to have shit VA anymore - if you can afford VA, you can afford to do it right.

 

[Havoc]

Sure, but what is the logic behind paying the women who do one voice the same as the other 4 voice actors that do the whole show?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons#Voice_actors

Do the game voice actors who voice NPC#3 and NPC#5 get paid the same as the actor that does all the dialog for the main character?

It's because of Patriarchy.

 

[Perkel]

stuff

You are looking at wrong sectors and wrong companies

First of microsoft/google hires shitload of devs. When you have shitload of devs price of single devs falls because there will be always someone to take your job if you are fired or you quit.

Bank security, medical equipment software, military software and other stuff like that pays ridiculously.
Then there is this: The smaller your company is the more they pay for each employee because more things depend on each employee to be successful.

I don't know how it is in US but in Poland my friend worked in MS as software dev and he got something like 50$k yearly (mind you it is for poland) then he got hired by Allianz insurance as security dev. He got about double of what he earned in MS and conditions leaps and above ms.

I know personally dude who creates/maintains software for machines in brewery sector (i come from small city with biggest brewery in europe) that dude is best payed worked in whole factory because there are only handfull of people on market with experience with that and since there are only few breweries in europe (at this scale) job market is completely locked down by few people.

So overall game developement and generally software are payed less because there are shitload of people who do it.
So instead of busting your ass crunching for 60k pay in game company many people simply choose other kind of jobs where you don't need to crunch and you get twice or more money.

 

[Hobo Elf]

So.. guys. How is the strike doing anyway?

 

[JudasIscariot]

You are looking at wrong sectors and wrong companies

First of microsoft/google hires shitload of devs. When you have shitload of devs price of single devs falls because there will be always someone to take your job if you are fired or you quit.

Bank security, medical equipment software, military software and other stuff like that pays ridiculously.
Then there is this: The smaller your company is the more they pay for each employee because more things depend on each employee to be successful.

I don't know how it is in US but in Poland my friend worked in MS as software dev and he got something like 50$k yearly (mind you it is for poland) then he got hired by Allianz insurance as security dev. He got about double of what he earned in MS and conditions leaps and above ms.

I know personally dude who creates/maintains software for machines in brewery sector (i come from small city with biggest brewery in europe) that dude is best payed worked in whole factory because there are only handfull of people on market with experience with that and since there are only few breweries in europe (at this scale) job market is completely locked down by few people.

So overall game developement and generally software are payed less because there are shitload of people who do it.
So instead of busting your ass crunching for 60k pay in game company many people simply choose other kind of jobs where you don't need to crunch and you get twice or more money.

It's pretty much the same in the U.S.

If you work on specialized software for, say, missile defense systems then you'll be making a lot more money than the guy who does the code responsible for quests in a game.


Hell, FORTRAN programmers last I heard can make a killing due to the fact that there aren't that many of them unlike C/C++ developers.

 

[pippin]

So.. guys. How is the strike doing anyway?

I don't know. How many AA and AAA games are currently in development?
VAs chose the worst possible time to go on strike. This is where the end of year sales are beginning, which means most games will be released, completed or not. They won't get the space they want/need, and I don't think they'll boycott the coming wave of new releases, considering it's very likely they all worked on them.

 

[Metro]

This won't gain traction. The high end VA's aren't going to go on strike because they're paid well and often (the people Blizzard, Valve, etc. use like Laura Bailey, John St. John, and so on). The ones tied to iconic characters that consumers would actually notice if they suddenly weren't there. The mid and low tier actors... no one cares about. Even then, the better ones aren't going to risk companies like Blizzard calling their bluff. They're still going to sell millions of games regardless of whether Jim Raynor sounds like Jim Raynor.

 

[Excidium II]

Also game development takes years but voice acting takes weeks. Game companies can just move the schedules around a bit and go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ doubt their strikes will last that long.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

All I'll say about this is that I'm glad Looking Glass let some of their everyday employees do voiceovers. Dan Thron was awesome, certainly better than a lot of professional VAs.

 

[Edward The Mediocre]

Well there goes what little support I had for these fucks.