SAG-AFTRA Hits League Of Legends For Strike Violation

Until a few hours ago, League of Legends was one of the few video games not affected by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. That is no longer the case, LOL. Earlier today, SAG-AFTRA announced that it had added League of Legends to the list of games canceled as part of the union’s attempt to gain AI protections for video game voice actors.

However, SAG-AFTRA is not targeting Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends. SAG is retaliating against Formosa, a third-party producer licensed by Riot to create voice content for the game. Shortly after the strike was called in July, Formosa attempted to cancel a game that was on strike, SAG said in a press release. When that proved impossible, Formosa “secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices only to ‘NON-UNION’ talent.” SAG accuses Formosa of an “unconscionable and horrific attempt to evade a strike and destroy the performers’ labor rights.” SAG-AFTRA has since filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. By striking League of LegendsThe union is calling on its members to stop working on one of the world’s most popular multiplayer games.

Riot is distancing itself from Formosa. In a statement to APThe company says: “We want to be clear: since we became a union project five years ago, League of Legends “We only asked Formosa to commit to unionized artists in the United States and never suggested otherwise. Furthermore, we never asked Formosa to cancel a match that we had recorded.”

SAG-AFTRA has called for a strike by workers against the Interactive Media Agreement signatories, which includes some of the world’s largest game publishers like Disney and Warner Bros., in July 2024, after a year and a half of negotiations over the use of AI malware. Like the film and television industry, the video game industry would also like to copy actors’ likenesses and voices so it doesn’t have to hire them anymore. So the union wants to find a way for voice actors to maintain some semblance of dignity while the entertainment industry looks for ways to make its output worse through the magic of mediocre technology that no one likes or wants.

“Committing illegal and unfair labor practices is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by SAG-AFTRA members,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union organizer for last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike. Formosa will be held accountable, starting with an immediate strike League of Legends.”