The idea that video games are not "serious things", says Ross Symons, overlooks the benefits they offer to gamers feeling isolated. "One thing that struck me during Covid is that games were the way that people connected and stayed together." The chief executive of Big Ant Studios, a Melbourne-based game developer, recalls when in 2010 the then opposition leader Tony Abbott dismissed the national broadband network as being for "internet-based television, video entertainment and gaming". Symons says that dismissiveness of the video game industry has not stood the test of time. Last year alone, Australians spent 3.8bn on video games, according to the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA).

On Wednesday, members of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, voted to ratify a new contract for video game performers, officially bringing an end to a nearly yearlong strike. A majority, 95 percent of members, voted in favor of the contract, which guarantees annual raises for three years, increased compensation, and guardrails designed to prevent game companies from giving their work to AI. Actors in the video game industry had been on strike for 11 months as part of a fight to secure protections against AI, a sticking point that held up negotiations for most of that time. Every other issue in the contract, including compensation and working conditions, was already resolved months ago, says SAG-AFTRA's national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. The strike was temporarily suspended in June, pending contract ratification. According to Sarah Elmaleh, a voice actor who also serves as a SAG-AFTRA committee chair, actors in the games industry have been wearily eyeing AI for years--even before tools like ChatGPT exploded in use.

The video game industry loves to tout figures: record-breaking sales numbers, astonishing revenue growth, dazzling quantities of concurrent players. It makes sense that the people who make and play games love numbers: They're proof that someone is winning. We have a new incredible number from the world of video games: In spite of an alarming price tag, it took only four days for the Nintendo Switch 2 to become the fastest-selling home video game console of all time, with 3.5 million units sold over the weekend following its June 5 release. This is tremendous business, enough for investors to take note and consider Nintendo a safe haven in a moment of extreme economic volatility. This kind of success is typically a point of pride to proponents of the video game industry, hard data proving the medium's significance to any doubters.

In 2025 we will enter a new era of safety by design for our digital playgrounds. Online games are spaces where billions of people worldwide come together to play, socialize, and unwind. However, they are also environments where harassment, hate speech, and grooming for violence and sexual exploration frequently occur. Today, most players of online games report being a direct target or witnessing one or more of these actions. A 2024 report found 82 percent of players report being a direct victim, and 88 percent report witnessing some form of so-called "toxic" behavior.

"Races" are now "species" in the beloved game Dungeons & Dragons, which recently marked its 50th anniversary, irking some loyal fans. "Some character traits have been divorced from biological identity; a mountain dwarf is no longer inherently brawny and durable, a high elf no longer intelligent and dexterous by definition," a report in The New York Times explains. "And Wizards of the Coast, the Dungeons & Dragons publisher owned by Hasbro, has endorsed a trend throughout role-playing games in which players are empowered to halt the proceedings if they ever feel uncomfortable." The company also now suggests that extended Dungeons & Dragons campaigns begin with sessions allowing players to lay out their expectations and which topics they wish to avoid, which could include sexual assault or drug use, the Times writes. "What they're trying to do here is put up a signal flare, to not only current players but potential future players, that this game is a safe, inclusive, thoughtful and sensitive approach to fantasy storytelling," said Ryan Lessard, a writer and frequent Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master, according to the report.

A new Chinese video game has created a buzz worldwide after it sold more than 10 million copies within three days, becoming the most successful game of all time to emerge from the country. According to 2023 estimates, China's gaming industry is roughly worth 40bn. Black Myth: Wukong, produced by developer Game Science (GS), has already generated an estimated 800-900m in revenue to date and will help project Chinese culture to a global audience. The game, believed to be China's first AAA video game, was developed at a reported cost of about 70m over six years. AAA is a classification used to denote a high-budget or high-profile game from a large video game developer.

More than 300 video game performers and Hollywood actors picketed in front of the Warner Bros Studios building on Thursday to protest against what they call an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect union voice actors and motion capture workers equally against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence. Standing before the crowd, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra), said that AI has become the most challenging issue in many of the union's negotiations. "We've made deals with the studios and streamers. We've made deals without a strike with the major record labels and with countless other employers, which provide for informed consent and fair compensation for our members," he told the Associated Press. "And yet, for some reason, the video game companies refuse to do that and that's what's going to be their undoing."

Video game workers--whatever their job, employer, or status--have clearly had enough. This month alone, the labor movement has made some of its biggest advancements ever in organizing the techies, artists, and creatives who keep the largest, most culturally significant sector of the global entertainment industry running and thriving. First, on July 19, came "wall-to-wall" union approval at Fallout-maker Bethesda Game Studios, which meant that everyone from engineers to artists could establish a comprehensive unit with the Communications Workers of America. They quickly earned recognition from parent company Microsoft, marking the first wall-to-wall effort to succeed at any of the Big Tech firm's gaming studios. On July 24, even more company workers got into the game.

Actors in the video game industry are going on strike. On Thursday, the union representing voice and motion-capture performers announced they would be walking off the job after talks with major video game companies broke down over concerns over AI protections. The work stoppage is set to begin Friday. "We're not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members," Fran Drescher, the president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which represents the performers, said in a prepared statement. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live--and work--with, we will be here, ready to negotiate." Several members of SAG-AFTRA are currently at Comic-Con International in San Diego for panels and other appearances. They will still be able to honor their obligations this weekend "given the close proximity" of the strike announcement to the event, which runs through Sunday. "Solidarity," Dragon Age: The Veilguard voice actor Erika Ishii posted on X. "We'll be fulfilling contracts at SDCC but afterwards we hold the line." Last year's Hollywood strikes greatly reduced the number of performers able to participate in Comic-Con events. Tensions over AI between SAG members and major video game companies have been high for months. Negotiations between the two sides began in earnest in October 2022. Members voted to authorize a strike in September of 2023. "Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation," Sarah Elmaleh, SAG's negotiating chair for the Interactive Media Agreement (IMA) that covers video game workers, said in a statement. "We refuse this paradigm--we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer." In the video game industry, actors regularly lend their voice, likeness, and even movements to projects. Voice acting and motion-capture are a crucial part of game development, even as AI begins to change the way developers create their games. Despite success on other points, video game companies and SAG have been unable to find common ground on AI. "We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations," Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game companies involved in the negotiations said in a statement to WIRED. That group includes companies such as Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts, Insomniac Games, Take-Two, and Warner Bros., among others. "We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions," Cooling said. "Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA's concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA.

When Noah saw the email, a wave of anxiety hit. It was spring 2023, and the Activision artist was reading a message from the company's then chief technology officer, Michael Vance, about how artificial intelligence was "top of mind" at the video game publisher. Systems were still being tested, Vance wrote, but "what we have seen thus far holds a ton of promise." There had been a couple emails like this sent to the employees of the studio, which produces the juggernaut Call of Duty series. A previous one had approved the internal use of generative AI tools Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for producing concept art.