Highlights
- GTA VI is exempt from the SAG-AFTRA strike due to a legacy contract loophole, despite union frustration.
- SAG-AFTRA urges solidarity from its members, potentially impacting GTA VI’s development.
- The strike centers on fair pay and control over actors’ digital likenesses amidst the rise of generative AI.
A walkout by SAG-AFTRA, which represents more than 160,000 actors, has sent ripples throughout the gaming industry.
Its principle demand is robust safeguards against actors’ likenesses and voices being used with generative AI.
Large game developers such as Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar, are squarely in the crosshairs of this strike, but a massive loophole has appeared that would protect the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI from the striking action.
GTA 6 Dodges Strike Bullet: Union Frustrated by Loophole
The Loophole of Strike Rules
SAG-AFTRA’s rules for striking do not apply to those games where the development started a year ago. This makes titles like GTA VI—due out this fall, 2025—not affected.
The chief contracts officer of the union expressed his frustration over this loophole, even calling it “insane,” but it is part of a legacy contract.
There’s an exemption that has created this very weird situation where GTA VI dodges the strike bullet, much to the chagrin of the union.
Inculcating Solidarity Amid Exemptions
Even if a game is exempt from the strike, SAG-AFTRA encourages its members not to work on games from struck companies, as a show of solidarity—even if those specific projects aren’t targeted.
This call to solidarity could include impacting the development of GTA VI, should actors decide to stand by the strike. The union is fighting for better pay and a say in how actors’ digital likenesses are used.
The Heart of the Dispute
It’s really about fair pay and control over the use of actors’ digital likenesses at the heart of this dispute. Although the game makers claim to have offered a lot in terms of protection, SAG-AFTRA feels these measures are inadequate for motion-capture performers specifically.
The union believes that protections don’t factor in key issues with generative AI and what the scope of its exploitation would likely be.
Industry Implications
The gaming industry is watching strike developments closely, as the results will affect not only future titles but also the nascent use of AI in entertainment.
What comes to the fore here is the rising tension between technology and labor rights—first of all, in creative industries.
How this strike is resolved might very well dictate a blueprint for how generative AI is controlled and exploited in the future—entirely outside the sphere of gaming and including every other sector that relies on digital performances.
The exemption of GTA VI from the SAG-AFTRA strike has caused very heated debate and anger from within the union itself.
Though a loophole does reside in a legacy contract, its impact on the gaming industry is huge. As actors and game developers work through this complex landscape, the real issues of fair pay and maintaining control over their digital likenesses do not go anywhere.
The future of AI use in entertainment, not excluding the rights of performers in this fast-changing industry, will be dictated by the unfolding events.
