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Hollywood unions set video game strike vote

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two of the key unions representing actors have asked their members to authorize a strike against the video game industry after talks on a new master agreement between the two sides broke down.

Materials were sent on Tuesday to about 1,900 members of the Screen Actors Guild and 1,000 members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Those unions both require "super-majority" approvals from their members -- 75 percent for SAG and 66.7 percent for AFTRA -- before their national bodies can formally authorize the strike.

The previous contract between game publishers and the unions expired last December, and after repeated extensions talks collapsed earlier this month.

The games industry said the biggest sticking point was residuals, or ongoing payments to actors and actresses for each copy of a game sold to which they contributed, including their voices and likenesses.

The unions wanted residual payments on games that sell more than 400,000 units, while the game publishers wanted only to make single up-front payments to talent.

Results of the strike vote are expected on June 7.

News Source
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