SAG-AFTRA has called a strike against the video game League of Legends, which would force its voice actors to stop working on Riot Games’ popular MOBA. The union also said it has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Formosa Interactive, which provides voiceover services for League.
Formosa Interactive was one of several prominent video game companies named in a voice actor strike earlier this year, and SAG-AFTRA is in negotiations with those developers to secure protections for AI replicas of its members, including the voice actors who appear in their games.
Today, the union alleged that Formosa attempted to “cancel” the games that were the subject of the strike. “When they were told that wasn’t possible, they quietly transferred the games to shell companies and issued casting notices only to non-union talent,” the press statement read. “SAG-AFTRA alleges that these egregious actions are a flagrant violation of fundamental labor law principles that employers may not interfere with performers’ rights to form or join unions and may not discriminate against unionized performers.”
League of Legends is just one of the titles Formosa Interactive services. In addition to voiceover, Formosa Interactive also offers facial capture, sound design, mixing and other services. The company’s credits include games such as God of War: Ragnarok, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Riot Games released the following statement about the strike: “League of Legends has nothing to do with the grievances referenced in SAG-AFTRA’s press release. To be clear, since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only ever asked Formosa to engage with unionized performers in the U.S. and has never suggested doing anything else, nor have we ever asked Formosa to cancel any games that we had signed up for. All allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release about canceling games or hiring non-union performers relate to non-Riot games and have nothing to do with League or our games.”
Update, September 24, 2024 at 5:47pm ET: Updated to include a statement from Riot Games.
