Take-Two says GTA 6 is ‘completely protected’ from potential actors strike

Take-Two has suggested that development of Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t be held up if members of SAG-AFTRA, the labour union for American actors, decide to proceed with potential video game strike action.

Union members recently voted 98.32% in favour of strike authorisation regarding the Interactive Media Agreement, which covers members’ work on video games.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean a strike is going to be called, it does mean that if SAG-AFTRA doesn’t get terms it considers acceptable while negotiating the Interactive Media Agreement, it can call a strike right away, knowing its members already support the decision.

SAG-AFTRA has been in negotiations with a number of video game companies and their performance production arms since October 2022, including Activision, EA, Epic Games and Take-Two.

So far negotiations have failed due to what SAG-AFTRA calls unacceptable terms on “some of the issues most critical to our members, including wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence, and basic safety precautions”.

During Take-Two’s earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Strauss Zelnick said he was optimistic about reaching an agreement when talks resume this month, but also noted that the company is “completed protected” if negotiations don’t go to plan.

During a Q&A session, he was asked: “If voice actors and motion capture were to go on strike, would it slow down the production of the next Grand Theft Auto at Rockstar? Does Rockstar have the type of employment contracts that would allow the actors to work through a strike?”

“Negotiations are expected to resume next week,” Zelnick responded. “We’re optimistic, we value all of our talent greatly, we value excellent labour relations and we’re looking forward to reaching an agreement that serves everyone well.

“That’s always been my approach,” he continued. “I’ve been involved with labour negotiations in every entertainment industry there is in my career and they’ve always worked out just fine. In the event that they don’t work out just fine, we are completely protected.”

Rockstar announced earlier today that Grand Theft Auto 6 will receive its first trailer in December to coincide with the studio’ 25th anniversary.