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The Truth About Video Game Voice Acting

I was recently approached by a video game producer who wanted me to audition for two characters in a game. One was the lead and the second was just a one-liner and the producer was attempting to use one actor for both parts for budgetary reasons. The fee offered to talent was too low in my opinion and I passed and explained why to the producer. He was kind enough to write back and enlighten me regarding the state of the business for voice actors doing voiceover on video games. The name of the producer has been removed for obvious reasons and I asked permission to blog this dialogue since I thought it educational and valuable to other voice actors who might happen upon it.

This is the initial audition request email:

Got a new casual video game* I’m working on.  And by ‘casual’ I mean ‘low-budget’. :-p

(*Joshua speaking: this is an important category identifier which, according to Wikipedia, means “A casual game is a video game or online game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games.”)

Now back to the email from my producer:

So, to make this worth your while, the client is going to cast someone who can do the two characters attached.  The “#$@!@” has only one line, so he’s not really important, other than to show you can do a read that sounds completely different from the main character of “#$@!@.”

Read just the lines in blue; you can put the auditions for each character into one .mp3 file, as there is zero chance this will be two separate actors.  Compensation is $500, and probably will take about 30 minutes of booth time.

This is his response to my email in which I said I am passing on the audition:

Actually, this is a pretty good client of mine who has often paid much more than this.  $500.00 for a casual game is not “low” compensation.  The budgets for casual games are much lower than those for AAA titles, or even $20 “budget” titles.  Note that the booth time is also very low.  It might even be more like a 15-20 minute session.

This is my opinion, so please don’t take this to be some sort of a slap at you, because it’s not.  It’s merely my recognition of what’s happening in voice acting:

The whole notion of using your voice and character creation “forever” seems to be an overblown concept based on some sort of broadcast model that no longer exists.  The reality is that gaming and interactive are the new frontiers, and they will continue to grow and be the revenue stream for the majority of working actors in the future.  AAA budgets are much higher (and I always fight for actor compensation), but the reality of casual games is that they’re lucky if they can sell enough to cover their production costs.  This is a hidden objects game, the likes of which you can find all over places like Shockwave.com and Big Fish Games.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have value, because eventually the companies that are doing casual games will do bigger budget games.  Social & casual gaming are where a lot of dollars will be plowed into within the next few years, so right now is more of a land grab.

I am not trying to talk you into auditioning so much as I am trying to tell you what is happening in the landscape.  In this case, the company isn’t exploiting you, and neither am I.  I’ve negotiated a fair budget with them, based on what they’re likely to recoup.  I do broadcast spots still, and they often don’t pay this much and the talent gets the hell beat out of them. (Because apparently, most ad agency producers are frustrated filmmakers who don’t realize that this radio or TV spot really isn’t a blockbuster…it’s selling cars or appliances or whatever.)

It’s all fine and dandy if you wish to draw a line in the sand, but I’m not sure that this sort of project is one over which you should be fighting for turf.

——– End of Email

Thanks to my producer friend for allowing me to share his analysis of the state of voicing video game characters and I hope this blog posting has been a value to you and not a waste of time. Feel free to leave any comment you so desire.