UK performing arts union Equity staged a protest outside the 2025 BAFTA Games Awards on Tuesday to call on video game companies to introduce union-negotiated agreements in the UK.
As reported by Eurogamer, union members gathered outside the awards ceremony in London with placards reading “Union contracts in gaming now.”
Equity claims union-negotiated agreements, which are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., will help deliver better pay and working conditions for performers in the games industry.
Equity assistant general secretary for recorded media, John Barclay, said the protest was held outside BAFTA to ensure the “poor practice frequently reported by Equity members does not continue to be ignored by industry leaders.”
“The video games industry is worth over £7 billion ($9 billion) in the UK alone and in attendance tonight are bosses from some of the richest companies in the world,” said Barclay. “Yet these companies continue to ignore Equity’s calls to work with us to introduce union-negotiated agreements in the UK that would improve pay, terms and conditions for our members—something that is normal practice in the US.”
Equity acknowledges the influence of striking performers in the United States
Barclay is referring to the efforts of SAG-AFTRA across the pond. Members of the union have been striking since 2024 to secure better working conditions and AI protections under the Interactive Media Agreement.
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So far, over 180 studios have signed an interim agreement tabled by SAG-AFTRA that provides protections against AI voice usage. As SAG-AFTRA urges more non-struck game studios to follow suit, the union has called out “alarming loopholes” in some AI proposals tabled by major game studios.
Barclay is also wary of the potential dangers posed by AI. “Pay for video game performers in the UK has stagnated despite games companies receiving almost £200m in tax breaks; performers do not have proper protections from artificial intelligence or NDA misuse; and they need safer workplaces so they don’t injure their vocals or bodies, or experience improper recordings of intimate scenes. In an industry that generates enormous wealth, Equity members deserve better,” he added.
Regarding the possibility of a strike, Equity told Eurogamer in 2024 that “industrial relations legislation in the United Kingdom is very restrictive,” and said the “employment statues of Equity members makes it even more difficult to overcome those hurdles in this context.”
Out of the 18 award categories of the 2025 BAFTA Game Awards, two honored performers in both leading and supporting roles. On this occasion, Alec Newman and Karen Dunbar nabbed wins for their work in The Chinese Room’s horror title Still Wakes the Deep.
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