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Following SAG-AFTRA’s “Do Not Work” order for Mega Man: Dual Override, Ben Diskin, the English voice actor for Mega Man, has announced that he will no longer voice the character and will not be returning for Dual Override.
Via Ben's Bluesky:
With a broken Blue Bomber heart, I am no longer the voice of Mega Man.
I was asked to return for Mega Man: Dual Override, but only on the condition I work without the protections of a union contract.
I was told there are "full A.I. protections in place that guarantee in writing that [my] voice will never be used for A.I. development" but was also told "with certainty, from [Capcom], that the project will not go union."
While I certainly appreciate the acknowledgement of the concern around AI, working without a contract I can realistically enforce isn't something I can risk.
The only way to enforce non-union contracts like this involves personally taking giant companies like Capcom to court and suing if I thought they'd used AI. I don't have the mental, emotional, or monetary strength to survive a protracted legal fight.
In my heart, I want to believe Capcom would never use AI...
But in my HEAD, I'm aware that basically every major corporation is looking to incorporate generative AI to save money.
The video game industry is facing record layoffs and huge amounts of uncertainty.
I need a union contract to feel safe.
(Also, as an aside, I don't think it makes sense to strike for over 11 months to get enforceable AI abuse protections and then turn right around and go back to work without them.)
I truly wish Capcom was at least willing to speak with SAG-AFTRA about doing this game union. I expressed that I'd even be willing to work on a LOWER-budget union contract if it meant this flipped. It genuinely wasn't about the money for me.
It's been an honor voicing Mega Man in Mega Man 11, the best-selling game in the series' history and watching Mega Man reclaim his rightful place as a gaming icon.
I hope Mega Man: Dual Override is even more successful than 11 and that everyone enjoys all the hard work the devs are putting into it.
"Good luck out there, Mega!"
I just wish I could have been there with you.
Smart move.
ReplyDeleteBen knows what he's worth, I love his va work and I hope that whatever he does next he has a lot of fun!
ReplyDeletehe doesnt have a choice this union harrasses non union workers and doesn't allow you to work non union gigs.
DeleteNot allowing union workers to do non-union work is pretty typical for any union. It's how they maintain bargaining power. What cope are you on? 😂
Delete@Jlrtenjac You'd think so, but the LA voice actors are pretty duplicitous. The vast majority of the ones you'll find in anime and Japanese video game dubs are not proper union members. They take advantage of something called, "financial core," which allows non-union individuals to work on union projects. They pay their dues in exchange for some (not all) benefits and don't have the ability to vote on things. They aren't considered proper union members.
Delete"Financial core" is extremely common amongst that part of the LA voice acting scene. Most of the negativity you'll see online regarding SAG transpired through the Genshin Impact controversy. One of the pieces that went kind of underreported in that story is that Genshin was never a union game to begin with. From day-1, it was always non-union. If you look at that game's cast, you'll find tons of prolific LA voice actors (including Keith Silverstein). Either they violated any union's most basic rule (and risk being fined or expelled from SAG) or they were never proper union members to begin with. It's largely the latter. It's why pseudonyms have died out, as they no longer needed to hide what they're doing from SAG.
The problem is that this behaviour discourages companies from doing union work. After all, what is the benefit for producers to do a project under a union contract when 99% of the talent pool actively work on non-union titles without an issue? There isn't much, which is why companies like Capcom feel entitled to ask people like Ben to work non-union. That is one of the big hypocrisies of the LA anime dub clique. They're only union members when it's convenient for them to be. They've actively been undermining "their" union's collective bargaining power for decades and get upset about sleeping in the bed they made.
@synonymous I appreciate you being more specific than "screw SAG-AFTRA, JP voice actors are better anyway".
DeleteYikes. I hope Bens successor is good.
ReplyDeleteWonder how this fares for the rest of the cast. It's going to be a bit awkward if Ben is the only non-returning actor or if in an act of solidarity none of the other actors want to return under these conditions
ReplyDeleteI hope they can at least hang on to Silverstein, he was pretty great as Wily. Not sure if he’s union or not, I wanna say no…
DeleteThe rest of the cast will also be gone. MM11 was an union project and MMDO has been hit with a Do Not Work order from SAG-AFTRA. No one is risking their union status to work on a Mega Man game.
DeleteDoug Stone voiced Light in the announcement trailer, so he's most likely still in and Keith is voicing in RE9 so it doesn't seem like he cares about the union.
DeleteStone might drop out due to the Do Not Work order. Likewise for Silverstein. The DNW is just for Dual Override, not Capcom in general, so RE9 is union acceptable. I doubt he doesn't care about the union if he was willing to go on strike for it last year.
Deletehonestly in the grand scheme megaman classic never had a consistent voice actor and the situation is shitty but sad lots of uninformed people defending this sad excuse for a "union" without any research.
ReplyDeleteSome unions are shitty, and companies don't like unions to begin with. I've dealt with enough of that "THERE'S A UNION AROUND EVERY CORNER" horse shit to know companies don't have your best interest in mind, either.
DeleteAdmittedly most of my experience with union/anti-union is retail work, rather than this sort of thing. Going by what everyone is saying, it's a lot more complicated than some of the baloney I dealt with working at a supermarket. The union there had its own issues, like a tier system that throws newer workers under the bus so seniority gets more benefits, but I still wouldn't trust a competing supermarket that's anti-union when they present it like stranger danger, but it's about unions.
DeleteYep, said it yesterday. 1-7 were fine with no VA then we got Elmer Fudd in 8. As long as the game play, art and music are good things will be fine.
DeleteHow the hell did they manage to get such a terrible VA for Dr. Light in 8, anyway? Did they pick some rando off the street, or was it an in-house developer like one of the early versions of King's Quest 5?
Deletei really don't mind this either... Imo he wasn't a good voice for Megaman. Megaman needs a child-like voice, like a voice that sounds around a 10, 11 or 12 year old boy. Maybe a woman might be better suited for that role. The japanese voice always nails it. His voice sounds a bit too much like a "cool teenager". I don't think he fits at all. This is the exact same issue i have with the english voice for Megaman in the Battle Network series. The tone is too different from the japanese one.
ReplyDeleteA level-headed, respectful, well articulated response.
DeleteUnfortunately, that means you’re a scab who hates unions. /s
I tend to agree. His voice would have been better suited for X who you'd imagine would be a few years "older" than Rock. The gold standard was Rock's VA in Powered Up IMO.
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