For the last six months, Chinese gaming company miHoYo has released tons of new Genshin Impact game content, even though it’s missing numerous English dubbing performances. Those of us who play the game with the English dubs have experienced silence when interacting with certain characters. We can read the screen to see what a character is saying, but the contrast between voiced and unvoiced characters in a cutscene is jarring. 

At the same time, because I’m an American voice actor, the silence is a constant reminder of the current SAG-AFTRA strike against the video game industry. This strike action affects companies worldwide that work with American talent, including miHoYo who produces Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero. The fuse of patience slowly burned for many American players and voice acting fans as they awaited miHoYo and its English dubbing partner to negotiate with SAG-AFTRA and address their concerns. 

As of March 26, that fuse has been spent, and the bomb has exploded. That’s because, as of Genshin Impact’s 5.5 release, miHoYo has replaced at least one striking voice actor (VA) in its English dub cast. For details about how the situation has gone down, especially in social media, I defer to PC Gamer. Here at Couch Soup, I want to break down what has led actors and fans like me to be so upset about this. Spoiler alert: it all comes down to what it means to be in the SAG-AFTRA union, why non-union VAs often show solidarity with their unionized colleagues, and how union supporters feel about labor strikes and strikebreakers.

Let’s start with the basics: Who is SAG-AFTRA, and what’s their role in all this? Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is an American labor union that protects the rights of around 160,000 performers and media professionals, including many voice actors. This includes fighting for better compensation and working conditions and providing legal support to protect an actor’s likeness. When a production company wants to hire SAG-AFTRA members, they enter a collective bargaining agreement with the union. Once that agreement is in place, they are able to hire talent from the pool of well-respected SAG-AFTRA members.

Under such a collective bargaining agreement, companies have obligations to their SAG-AFTRA workers. If those workers observe violations of the agreement or a threat to their rights, they can ask the union to negotiate on their behalf to resolve the situation. Those rights are defined by the laws and work culture of the United States, while negotiations can affect companies worldwide. In many cases that you probably never hear about, negotiations happen successfully, and the workers and companies each get what they need.

When companies don’t seem willing to negotiate on a matter, or the matter profoundly affects an entire industry, SAG-AFTRA’s leaders call for a strike action against those companies. That’s what happened in 2024 for actors in the video game industry. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is making it easier to reproduce an actor’s performance without permission or compensation. The union wants to ensure actors can control the use of their likeness in AI tools and AI-generated content. A strike like this begins when the union instructs its members to withhold work from a company they are striking against. It then continues until that company successfully negotiates a resolution with the union. Video game companies are gradually coming to interim agreements with SAG-AFTRA to address these AI concerns.

While striking union members protest by refusing to work, the union leverages its resources to put pressure on the company through media and picketing. The more workers that are on strike at a given company, the more pressure on the company to negotiate so they can resume normal operations and protect their brand. Those protesters view strikebreakers (any workers who “cross the picket line” to work) as abominable. From the union perspective, strikebreakers undermine efforts to keep the pressure on and seem willing to compromise their ethics for a paycheck. That’s definitely not someone I’d want to work with!

For voice actors, joining a union isn’t a requirement to get work. In fact, most voice acting work, even within the United States, is non-union. While union membership requires a VA to limit their work to union jobs, VAs may aspire to join SAG-AFTRA for its benefits and protections. However, joining the union isn’t just about filling in an application and paying some dues. People can only join SAG-AFTRA if they have proof of accepting a union job associated with either SAG-AFTRA or an affiliated union (more info here). Whether by choice or by audition luck, many American VAs are non-union simply because they haven’t had a union job. That’s why some English language VAs you hear in video games right now may still be working for a company that the union is striking against. Genshin Impact is an example of this, with some actors still providing English dubs in the strike-affected content.

Regardless of union affiliation, many voice actors respect SAG-AFTRA for its role in protecting actors’ rights. The union sets expectations for how the industry should treat its workforce and backs it up with action. Non-union actors benefit from that precedent as the industry shapes itself around union expectations. For that reason, non-union VAs often join their unionized colleagues to support important issues. Some non-union VAs and VAs in professional associations like NAVA even choose to strike in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA. They do so at great risk, though, when their jobs are not tied to SAG-AFTRA negotiations. 

This non-union solidarity seems to have applied to the original actor behind Genshin Impact’s Kinich, John Patneaude. NAVA-member Patneaude showed his support for the strike last July and withheld work alongside the union actors. Patneaude’s more recent post cordially expresses disappointment that another VA was cast in his place while he was striking. Patneaude decided to stick to his principles, and he got robbed. My heart goes out to Patneaude, who, just last year, had that VA dream-come-true moment of being cast as a character in a game he enjoyed playing. Patneaude’s performance was a big reason I became such a fan of Kinich. I hope he can return, as he says he’s willing to do so if the company reaches an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

It’s that industry-wide respect for SAG-AFTRA that causes non-union VAs (like me) to hesitate to take a gig away from a union VA. As we get started in the industry, we learn from our coaches and peers to be cautious when we see an audition to “recast” a role while the union is on strike. From his social media post, you can see that Patneaude had that expectation, too. We adopt the habit of checking credible sources to learn whether the actor we’re replacing is striking or has just stepped down. If the answer is unclear, we may reach out to them to ask. We could still audition for the role, and it’s generally acceptable to take the role anonymously if we just need the work. However, if we accept the role and have our name attached to it, we’re labeled as a “scab” (a pejorative for “strikebreaker”), tarnishing our reputation among our fellow voice actors.

Circling back to Genshin Impact, miHoYo, and its English dubbing partner found their way around the strikes for Patneaude. They selected Tokyo-based Jacob Takanashi as the new English dub voice for Kinich. Given that SAG-AFTRA is American and miHoYo is Chinese, it makes sense that Takanashi may not be keeping up with the SAG-AFTRA strike or who is striking. That said, Takanashi’s public announcement comes across as someone who didn’t do their research into Patneaude’s situation. While miHoYo likely withheld information when auditioning for replacements, that doesn’t excuse the lack of due diligence on the actor’s part. Now, both Patneaude and Takanashi are in difficult positions from an industry perspective: one is out of a job, and the other is considered a scab. 

The only real winner here seems to be miHoYo. Another win for our corporate overlords?

Is it justified to be outraged about this? Definitely. Patneaude did nothing wrong and was fighting for his rights as a working professional. Whether or not he was in the union is irrelevant when so many English dub actors are withholding work and waiting for an interim agreement to address AI concerns. Most of my anger is directed toward miHoYo for this affront against a striking worker. But Takanashi is partly to blame, too. I don’t think that Takanashi did this with malice, but he should have done his homework about this “recast” and then chosen to step away. This comes across as a rookie career mistake for Takanashi, and it’s led to severe backlash from both fans and other VAs. It’s proof that being a scab is a bad choice for an actor, regardless of your union status or global location.

This Chinese company’s actions have created a dilemma for its English VAs, which are now encoded in a video game loved by millions worldwide. I wish there was some solution that could prevent situations like this. Do VAs just need better international networking? How can we better promote awareness about labor strikes around the world and discourage strikebreaking? Can we make it easier for VAs to find the definitive source of truth about striking actors before auditioning or accepting offers? Whatever the solution, I hope to see more VAs working toward the same goals internationally and demanding integrity from employers.