SAG-AFTRA Inks Video Game Deal With ‘Last Sentinel’ Maker During Strike Against Major Studios
The Irvine-based AAA developer Lightspeed LA has agreed to the union's stipulations in the ongoing labor battle and can continue producing work with SAG-AFTRA performers.
As SAG-AFTRA‘s video game strike continues, the AAA developer Lightspeed LA has signed an interim agreement with the labor group that will allow it to continue working with union performers.
By signing the pact, the five-year-old developer can finish work on its first project, the dystopian open-world game Last Sentinel, and work with SAG-AFTRA performers on future titles. Lightspeed LA is a division of Lightspeed Studios, behind Undawn, Titans: Last Stand and Code: To Jin Yong.
The union’s interim agreement, reflecting its demands in the ongoing stalemate with major video game developers, requires performers to consent to the use of AI at particular stages and be paid for that usage. Employers must tell an actor either at an audition or job offer if they are seeking to create a “digital replica” of that person and get their consent, for instance, and get a greenlight from the performer and negotiate pay before that digital replica is used. The agreement also provides for a wage increase of 7 percent effective July 26 and 7.64 percent starting Nov. 7 and a health and retirement contribution rate increase of 17 percent.
