One of the most important parts of a fighting game–or any video game really–is the voice acting, as a good voice can make or break a moment. Bad voice lines usually go down in infamy and are enjoyed ironically, but for those fighting games where players will hear the same voice lines over and over again while in Training Mode or online, we want our characters to sound good. There really is no comparison to having the perfect voice actor shout “Shoryuken” or “Get Over Here” just right. The sheer number of voice lines that need to be recorded, between attacks, getting hit, super move dialogue, victory quotes, loss voices, and various grunts we hear every match–never mind when games have fully voice acted story modes–mean that we should care about our voice actors a lot.
As you may or may not have heard, there has been some major movement going on in the voice acting community. SAG-AFTRA–a union representing voice actors, as well as many other professionals in the entertainment industry–has been trying to get the companies they work with to create a better environment for voice actors for nearly two years, since February of 2015. The main demands of working voice actors are for safer work conditions, with limits on vocally stressful sessions being requested as well as stunt safety coordinators to be required on set. These voice actors work on a lot more than just video games, but since fighting games specifically require voice actors to scream in agony for hours, especially for gory fighters like Mortal Kombat, you can imagine the strain on the voice after a long session. Other requests from the union include increased secondary pay upon a game reaching 2 million units sold, and every other 2 million up to a max of 8 million. To put this request in pay increase into perspective, Mortal Kombat X sold 5 million units as of October last year.
If this doesn’t quite seem like that big an issue, just click here what voice talent Steve Blum had to say on the matter. Steve Blum, one of the most recognizable voices in the business, also voices Sub-Zero, Reptile, and Bo’ Rai Cho in Mortal Kombat X. Voice actors having serious injuries after stressful vocal sessions, like the ones common in fighting games, is a serious issue that gets relatively little attention. Click here for further perspective into this by voice talent Wil Wheaton.
Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and publishers have yet to reach clear compromise. The union received a 96.55% vote from their members to authorize them to enact a strike which, after one final negotiation last week, was put into effect with a strike that went into effect October 21st.
As far as fighting games are concerned, Warner Bros. is one of the companies that SAG-AFTRA is set against, which could have huge implications for the next titles that they are putting out. These titles include Injustice 2, as well as any Mortal Kombat content that may potentially be down the line. That includes new characters–and Ed Boon has been hinting at a third Kombat Pack in recent times. This strike could also have had a part in the decision of Aksys to remove English voice acting from BlazBlue Central Fiction. In addition to this, better conditions for voice actors in stressful vocal sessions could directly improve the quality of content we have in every fighting game, not just Mortal Kombat.
Sources: SAG-AFTRA; gameactorsforall; Ξ; Wil Wheaton