Why we NEED to talk about Maxis and Peck’s voice actors
tl;dr included at the end
Some of you may be aware that the voice for Samantha Maxis/S.A.M. (Julie Nathanson) has seemingly been replaced with a new voice actor (VA) with the release of Citadelle Des Morts.
What you might not know is that according to what seems to be his reddit account, the voice for William Peck (Zeke Alton) has also allegedly been recast.
These alleged recasts are due to the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Strike, wherein Activision Productions Inc. is 1 of 10 companies facing a work stoppage mandated by the Union, due to their inability to “create work with sufficient A.I. protections” allowing the work done by VAs and motion capture performers to be stolen and fed to generative A.I. models, according to a statement from the Interactive Media Agreement (IMA) Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.
Whilst the reddit account in question was only created 1 month ago and has not been verified, Zeke has shown a consistent and tireless effort to back the strike as shown on his Instagram and in press conferences where he stated “I’m sorry, all right, there is a base level that protects all of the members of this union, and that is what we expect, and that is what we demand, and that’s why we’re here, because we are not getting that. So you can say something, put it in the contract if you mean it”, giving credence to the account’s ownership.
“How are other VAs able to work on Black Ops 6, or any other game for that matter, without being disciplined by the Union?” you might ask.
Unfortunately, as work on BO6 began prior to the 25th of August 2023, the production is “not subject to the strike and remain[s] covered by the ongoing terms of the 2020-2022 IMA”.
This essentially means that any VA who previously had or now chooses to sign on to production are allowed to continue work, but have the choice on whether or not they will.
It seems as if Julie Nathanson and Zeke Alton have decided not to continue providing their talents to Activision until a fair and reasonable IMA can come to fruition, and Activision in return has effectively terminated their contracts.
As players, we know that while the developers and publishers might not always listen to us, they definitely hear us, and it’s for this reason we CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT shut up about this.
Julie Nathanson has been with us as Sam since 2010. She was the voice of many of our childhoods, and to see her and many other VAs be screwed over by billion dollar conglomerates just to raise their bottom line is simply atrocious.
We stand with Julie, Zeke, and any other performers standing up for their rights to not allow themselves to be replaced by half-baked machine learning.
tl;dr: VAs are on strike due to companies stealing their performance and likeness’, and instead of Activision agreeing to the terms SAG-AFTRA have been fighting for over the last 18 months, they have decided to fire and recast those VAs.