Nearly a year after instructing members to cease and decline work on video games, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has suspended its strike and announced a new Interactive Media Agreement (IMA).
Prior to this tentative agreement, the most recent IMA deal, set to expire in November 2022, was extended on a monthly basis during union negotiations, until SAG-AFTRA called for a strike, effective July 2024.
The strike prohibited members from acting, singing, or authorizing the use of one’s voice for IMA signatories. Localization for foreign video games covered in the IMA was also affected, though an interim agreement was made available to game studios that agreed to certain AI terms.
A new Independent Interactive Localization Agreement was revealed in November 2024, to be signed on a project-by-project basis for games originally scripted in a language other than English and IP owners based outside the US.
In a June 18, 2025 message to thousands of members, SAG-AFTRA explained that the new IMA, which also applies to facets of video games outside of localization, addresses pay raises, worker safety, and “crucial AI protections.”
“We fought as hard as possible for these protections because the use of performance-related generative AI in video games is as seamless and tempting as in any modern medium, if not more so — and the alarm raised by our community over this threat to our artistic autonomy was matched by determined employer resistance to granting essential guardrails,” the statement read.
The newest IMA was negotiated with a number of big-name studios, including Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Take2 Productions, Activision Productions Inc., and Disney Character Voices Inc.
SAG-AFTRA has encouraged members to attend one of several informational meetings and has urged them to vote to ratify the agreement by July 9, 2025.
Defining Digital Replicas
According to an 11-page summary of the tentative agreement, which specifically applies to video games during the period of November 2022-October 2028, the terms do not apply to practices of “processing, editing, rearranging, altering, or manipulating material for purposes such as clarity, noise reduction, timing and speed, pitch and tone, etc.”
The agreement explains and expands on the definition of “digital replicas,” which can take the form of “vocal digital replicas” or “visual digital replicas.”
A vocal digital replica is “capable of algorithmically generating new vocal performance in the voice of a specific Principal Performer,” drawing primarily from the performer’s IMA-covered vocal performances. In other words, the tool can be used to generate new speech, never recorded by the performer, that is identifiable as that individual, including in the role of a character.
Similarly, an independently created digital replica (ICDR) can generate new performances from a voice actor, but draws from performances that were not IMA-covered.
Employers who wish to use a performer’s voice for additional uses, other than the original video game, must obtain consent prior to the use of a digital replica but not at the time of initial employment (perhaps to prevent performers from feeling pressured to agree to future use).
One exception, however, is franchises. In these cases, employers must obtain consent from the performer to use their voice throughout the planned series. At that time the employer must give a “reasonably specific description” of its anticipated use, which might include a description of the type of character, context, dialogue, and/or gameplay involved.
Performers must be informed of the game genre, whether the performer would be reprising a role from a previous game, whether the game is based on previously published IP; the size of the role; and whether the content is sexual or violent in nature, or involves slurs.
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Consent for a Lifetime — and for Real-Time
Employers must also disclose whether a voice digital replica or ICDR will be used for real-time speech generation in a video game. Once a digital replica or ICDR is incorporated into the video game for real-time generation, the performer cannot revoke their consent in the event of a strike.
Consent granted during a performer’s lifetime will remain valid after death, the agreement states, unless the consent was explicitly limited in the initial contract. If a performer is already deceased when an employer seeks consent, the employer must obtain the consent of an authorized representative, such as the performer’s estate, or the union.
No consent is required for uses protected by the First Amendment, including “comment, criticism, scholarship, satire or parody, or […] use in a docudrama or historical or biographical work.”
But consent is automatically invalidated if the use of the replica no longer matches the description provided in the initial contract — or if the union launches a strike.
Performers are also to be compensated for time spent providing IMA-covered services that contribute to the creation of a digital replica. Once a vocal digital replica is in use, the performer will receive a session fee for every 300 lines generated (estimated at about 10 words per line) or one individual sound (“such as monster or effort sounds”).
The 2025 IMA requires SAG-AFTRA members to receive a usage report for digital replicas. The union plans to use this data to identify and, ideally, correct any non-compliance on the part of employers.
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