UK performing arts union Fairness staged a protest exterior the 2025 BAFTA Video games Awards on Tuesday to name on online game firms to introduce union-negotiated agreements within the UK.
As reported by Eurogamer, union members gathered exterior the awards ceremony in London with placards studying “Union contracts in gaming now.”
Fairness claims union-negotiated agreements, which have gotten more and more frequent within the U.S., will assist ship higher pay and dealing circumstances for performers within the video games trade.
Fairness assistant normal secretary for recorded media, John Barclay, mentioned the protest was held exterior BAFTA to make sure the “poor observe often reported by Fairness members doesn’t proceed to be ignored by trade leaders.”
“The video video games trade is price over £7 billion ($9 billion) within the UK alone and in attendance tonight are bosses from a number of the richest firms on the planet,” mentioned Barclay. “But these firms proceed to disregard Fairness’s calls to work with us to introduce union-negotiated agreements within the UK that might enhance pay, phrases and circumstances for our members—one thing that’s regular observe within the US.”
Fairness acknowledges the affect of hanging performers in the USA
Barclay is referring to the efforts of SAG-AFTRA throughout the pond. Members of the union have been hanging since 2024 to safe higher working circumstances and AI protections underneath the Interactive Media Settlement.
To this point, over 180 studios have signed an interim settlement tabled by SAG-AFTRA that gives protections in opposition to AI voice utilization. As SAG-AFTRA urges extra non-struck sport studios to observe go well with, the union has known as out “alarming loopholes” in some AI proposals tabled by main sport studios.
Barclay can be cautious of the potential risks posed by AI. “Pay for online game performers within the UK has stagnated regardless of video games firms receiving nearly £200m in tax breaks; performers shouldn’t have correct protections from synthetic intelligence or NDA misuse; they usually want safer workplaces so that they don’t injure their vocals or our bodies, or expertise improper recordings of intimate scenes. In an trade that generates huge wealth, Fairness members deserve higher,” he added.
Concerning the potential for a strike, Fairness advised Eurogamer in 2024 that “industrial relations laws in the UK could be very restrictive,” and mentioned the “employment statues of Fairness members makes it much more troublesome to beat these hurdles on this context.”
Out of the 18 award classes of the 2025 BAFTA Recreation Awards, two honored performers in each main and supporting roles. On this event, Alec Newman and Karen Dunbar nabbed wins for his or her work in The Chinese language Room’s horror title Nonetheless Wakes the Deep.
