Actors union SAG-AFTRA calls a strike against League of Legends
SAG-AFTRA, the labour union for American actors, has today called a strike against Riot Games‘ League of Legends.
It said it was doing so because Formosa Interactive, a production company involved in making the game, had “tried to subvert” the video game strike which began in July after the union failed to negotiate protections around the use of AI for its members.
SAG-AFTRA accused Formosa, which has also worked on Call of Duty games and other high-profile titles like Death Stranding and God of War, of attempting to “cancel” one of its struck games.
“When they were told that was not possible, they secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for ‘NON-UNION’ talent only,” it claimed.
Update
Riot has released a statement distancing itself from the allegations made by SAG-AFTRA.
“League of Legends has nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA’s press release,” it said on X. “We want to be clear: since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only asked Formosa to engage with Union performers in the US and has never once suggested doing otherwise.
“In addition, we’ve never asked Formosa to cancel a game that we’ve registered. All of the allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release relating to canceling a game or hiring non-union talent relate to a non-Riot game, and have nothing to do with League or any of our games.”
“SAG-AFTRA charges that these serious actions are egregious violations of core tenets of labour law – that employers cannot interfere with performers’ rights to form or join a union and they cannot discriminate against union performers
“The unilateral and surreptitious transfer of union work to a ‘non-union’ shell company is an impermissible and appalling attempt to evade a strike action and destroy performers’ rights under labour law.”
The strike against means SAG-AFTRA members must stop providing services to League of Legends, which is one of Formosa’s most popular titles.
SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labour practice charge against the company with the National Labour Relations Board.
“It’s bad enough that Formosa and other companies are refusing to agree to the fair A.I. terms that have been agreed to by the film, television, streaming, and music industries, as well as more than 90 other game developers,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA.
“To commit illegal unfair labour practices is beyond the pale and won’t be tolerated by SAG-AFTRA members. Formosa will be held accountable, starting with an immediate strike of League of Legends.”
The SAG-AFTRA video game strike began in July after more than 18 months of negotiations with various companies and their performance production arms ended without a deal. These companies include Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, EA Productions, Formosa, Insomniac Games, Epic Games, Take 2 Productions, VoiceWorks Productions and WB Games.
In some cases these companies can’t now hire unionised actors to perform motion capture or voiceover work for their games. However, titles that were in development before September 2023 are exempt from the ongoing strike action, SAG-AFTRA told Aftermath in July.
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