Twenty-one employees of 2K Games’ motion capture studio in Petaluma, California, submitted for the union elections on TuesdayThe International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees announced this in a press release on Wednesday. The group is asking the National Labor Relations Board to schedule elections after 2K management failed to respond to a request for voluntary recognition.
Workers at the studio, called 2K Mocap, have formed the first public union campaign in a dedicated motion capture studio. They want to tackle problems with working conditions and pay. “The unit’s priorities include job security, pay equity that reflects industry standards, minimum wages for new hires and a clearer definition of job responsibilities,” IATSE wrote in a press release. “The workers claim that despite recent investments in modernizing the factory, their wages remain substandard, making it difficult to sustain a long-term career in the industry.”
The union, if certified, would include animators, performers, audio specialists, carpenters, stage technicians and engineers. These employees do motion capture for franchises like NBA 2K, Mafia, BioShock, WWE 2K and others. Motion capture actors in video games are typically represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. (Video game actors, including motion capture actors, are currently on strike, largely over artificial intelligence protections.) The people who work at 2K Mocap are not actors; they do the rest of the work around the actors: building sets, animating models, capturing motion and audio, and making sure all those little motion capture balls stay on the motion capture suits.
“As creative professionals, we have a tendency to sacrifice and settle for less because we have an unwavering passion for what we do and the projects we work on,” said Ryan Kwok, 2K motion capture tools engineer Mocap, in a statement. “But we owe it to ourselves and others in this industry to fight for protections so we can continue building the games we and so many others love.”
2K Games did not respond to Polygon’s request for comment.
The proposed union is represented by IATSE, an international union representing entertainment workers who typically work behind the scenes. The focus has largely been on the film and television industries, but IATSE has recently expanded into the video game industry. By 2023, Workinman interactiveallowing licensed games such as Spongebob’s Game Frenzy And Fisher Price: smart cycleaffiliated with IATSE.