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Video Game Actors Say They Don't Get Their Due

Posted by timothy on from the 100k-isn't-exactly-peanuts dept.

Dekortage writes "The New York Times reports today about Michael Hollick, the actor who provided the voice of Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV. Although the game has made more than $600 million in sales for Rockstar Games, Hollick earns nothing beyond the original $100K he was paid. If this was television, film, or radio, Hollick and the other GTA actors could have made millions by now. Hollick says, 'I don't blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games. Yes, the technology is important, but it's the human performances within them that people really connect to, and I hope actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies.' Is it time for video game actors to be treated as well as those in other mediums?"

11 of 573 comments (clear)

  1. Oh the poor bastard by amazeofdeath · · Score: 5, Funny

    $100k? How can you expect anyone to live on that? Where's the union when you need it the most?

    --
    U+F8FF
    1. Re:Oh the poor bastard by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2, Funny

      $100k? How can you expect anyone to live on that?

      Exactly. In euros, $100k it buys you a bus ticket these days...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  2. In other news by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fat short italian plumber dresses in red and stages protest in front of Nintendo office in Rome to claim unpaid billions.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  3. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by suso · · Score: 3, Funny

    they don't highlight the actors the way they do, say, on a movie DVD box. Last time I checked, my copy of Shrek 2 had a picture of a two green ogres a donkey and a cat on it, not Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas
  4. He was over-compensated. by wireloose · · Score: 4, Funny

    That first Tauren actor that Blizzard hired only received 3 coppers and a stack of Peacebloom for a snack.

  5. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He had better be careful. Rockstar might just decide to kill him and get their money back.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  6. Re:When your name can... by grm_wnr · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bought Portal for Mike Patton.

  7. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Exactly, I say to these actors.... A GREAT BIG WAHHHH.

    read your fricking contract before you sign it.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  8. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Interesting because the games companies I've talked to say that 70% of the game is written by one lead programmer.
    Intersting because the people I've talked to say that 99% of what LingNoi says is made up on the spot
  9. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by Clockwork+Apple · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, and what about us players who actually install and load the software and then provide the input required to allow the game characters to do the things needed to showcase the work of the animators, programmers, voice actors etc. When do we gat paid?

    C.

    --
    "Doctor, it's not the voices I hear in MY head, but the voices I hear in YOUR head that really frighten me."
  10. Re:Keep fighting, but be realistic by SageMusings · · Score: 2, Funny

    acting actually is skilled work taking years to learn

    What about Tom Cruise? I guess there is an exception to every rule

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    -- Posted from my parent's basement