Voicing for Games

There are rampant rumors in the mist that Video Game Developers and producers are starting to understand the value of having real voice acting professionals contribute to their visually elaborate products. 

This is good. 

Now.  How to price it? 

Again that nagging question.  What are you worth?  What do THEY think you're worth?  Are you grateful to break into the genre, or do you feel you have to educate these guys about the value of your time and talent?

All good questions.

Some astute and highly proficient voice actors chimed in about this recently on the Yahoo VO Forum, and they've all told me it's pretty much OK to excerpt their comments here.

Believe me, everything below the fold, here, is well worth the read if you've considered this realm at all.

CourVO

As is usually the case, the wise and often (ahem) overly-contributory Ed Helvey begins us off in a way that harkens back to a previous discussion about what is fair pay for our business:

The very technology that has provided most of us with the ability to cut the umbilical with recording studios and commuting to them to do VO work and given us the freedom to work from home – anywhere in the world with Internet connectivity, is also the same technology that is changing the fee structures that took us years and years to build up to.

We think that gaming is going to continue to expand – maybe and maybe not. When people have to make decisions between food, housing, fuel to commute (if they have a job), clothes, medicine and buying computer games. Some, will buy the games at the cost of other discomfort – most, I think will put that at the bottom of the priority list. Mattel, a traditionally profitable toy manufacturer, just announced a 46% drop in profits.

Always the thoughtful counterbalance, Frank Frederick then responded with this:

The key to rates for video games is not based upon the same conditions as those for broadcast. Traditionally broadcast rates were higher due to the immediacy and usually short life of the genre'. Voice-overs for "games" WAS in it's infancy, and in times past was relegated to using talent that was available; i.e.: the secretary, copy boy, even some of the programmers themselves or their family members.

Ten years ago a video game may have sold 100,000 copies. Video game's today may sell 100 million

copies, but the pay for VA's remains the same – nearly nothing.

Today, "New Media" is where attention is being focused. Creative content includes video games,  podcasts, internet news and entertainment, advertising on cell phones, audiobooks, videobooks, webinars, and a myriad of other "New Media" genre. These products are being created by anyone with some basic skills and a little time on their hands. Few have been able to crack the income/residual lock and fewer still understand the value of quality audio and voice acting.

Apparently the discussion drew out the inimitable Board Mistress and Czar from the highly-regarded VO-BB, DB Cooper, who happens to have no small experience in this vein.  I tried to find ways to excerpt the wisdom she offered, but alas, it's ALL golden.  Read it and learn.

Game rates are session rates. Session only.

Here's the AFTRA breakdown: 

Day Performer (1 voice / 1 hr) 

$390.90 

Day Performer (Up to 3 voices/ 4-hour day) 

$781.75 

Additional Voices (each) 

$260.60 

6-10 Voices / 6-hour day 

$1,563.55 

Most productions will ask for the 4-hour, 3-character day. This scale rate you see is the NET amount that will come to YOU. Add about 40% to that and you'll see what the production company would be paying out GROSS with a union job. 

Nobody gets royalties or resids on a game and this is a contentious bit of shiznit that is extremely nettlesome. The Guys who spend years creating the frameworks, designing characters and environments, programming game physics and mechanics, creating audioscapes and writing sound tracks do receive bonuses based on milestones (a kind of deadline) met and sometimes a bonus based on units sold over a certain amount. A bonus on a similar scale to the VO leads when a game is successful would be nice, but for the unions to  argue "residuals" will drive game companies away from union talent.

None of the suits in the unions seem to understand the way the creation of game audio works. The one-hour, one voice rate is $40 less than the 1st hour of an industrial read. This is pretty clear evidence that the folks who set that rate have never voiced a game project. Have these guys ever played the games they're making deals about? In general, too often our rates are being negotiated by guys who haven't been in the trenches in years, if ever.

Finally, Bettye Zoller, also of much experience in the biz, chimed in with this astute contribution:

I presume you mean "Videogame Voicings Rates?" Well, they are all over
the map! But to get a guideline for yourself, visit the site www.aftra.org
because AFTRA after some trial, toil, and tribulation, set rates for
voicing stuff for videogames. The "rub" here is, of course, that there
are start-up companies who want a voiceover talent to voice a demo or a
trial to see if they can sell their developed game to somebody to
manufacture. But on the other side of the spectrum are the giant, rich
companies who still often are paying pennies to voice talents while
making zillions. It's a hard call…if you book thru your vo agents,
they'll set your rates whether you're union or non=union. Online, it's
a free for all game…who knows what you'll get paid and probably
you'll never see a dime in royalties etc.

The other thing about videogames is that they often use lots of
characters, character voices, making it even more difficult to make
money cause you may have only two to eight lines total as the "monster"
or whatever. And a lot of the time it's grunting and screaming. Check out the new AFTRA rates for games etc and other interactive media.