What's actually involved in getting a human voice actor to record lines for a game, and how does that compare to an AI replacement? @maddie-b-a.bsky.social speaks to actors and audio engineers like @selmaleh.bsky.social and @jeffvandyck.com to try and demystify what goes into giving games a voice.

61 workers at Ubisoft Halifax have formed the first North American union at Ubisoft. www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ubi...

I created a Blue Sky starter pack of all the game worker unions across the world. There are a lot of us now! Give them a follow, they're all great! 4/ go.bsky.app/PNcLPFU

Here's how the joining process works behind the scenes at the union. In case you're wondering, "Ben.... Where did you get this information? I've heard other things before...," my source is the Executive Director of Customer Experience at SAG-AFTRA.

HEY! If you want 2026 to be THE year that labor gets the upperhand on corporations forcing AI culture, then you need to learn from the early wins. Here's voice actor union rep @selmaleh.bsky.social explaining how gaming voice actors fought (for over a year!!) to guarantee protections from AI.

Celebrate the IndieCade Festival 2025 Nominated Games with Awards hosts Sarah Elmaleh, Isla Hinck, and Elyse Willems! youtu.be/5fJmGRO7f4E?... Learn more about the games here: www.indiecade.com/festival-202... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #indiecade #Awards #games

We want to hear from YOU, #SagAftraMembers! Join us on December 17 at 2 PT/5 ET for our artificial intelligence caucus in preparation for the 2026 TV/Theatrical/Streaming contract negotiations. Use your voice! Get more info/RSVP here: https://ow.ly/mR5s50XIHCo

Dwarf Fortress and Caves of Qud are on sale at the same time! 🍄⛏ Get both with the Best Patch Notes bundle: store.steampowered.com/bundle/38314...

“For years they said it would never happen and it fucking is. [They’re] facing everything from stalling at the bargaining table to mass firings, and deciding that it's worth it for a shot at real agency in shaping their working conditions” @selmaleh.bsky.social postgame.substack.com/p/18-reasons...

I crammed all of your favorite video game podcasts into one Holiday Special! What are your favorite gamers grateful for? Hear from @kumail.bsky.social and Emily V. Gordon, @austinwalker.bsky.social @lucyjames.games @blessingjr.bsky.social @chrisbratt.bsky.social @teanah.bsky.social, and more!

This takes SO MUCH PREAMBLE out of hyping this beautiful podcast I’m so blessed to run with. So hyped for this rebrand and peep this lovely homegrown art by the one and only Dick Hogg!

Eggplant is one of, if not the best, videogame podcasts I've ever heard. Made by game developers, their conversations are approachable and lighthearted all the same. This latest one, being about Consume Me, fills me with joy.

Video game giant Rockstar has sacked more than 30 workers across the UK, including my constituents working at their Edinburgh office. I urged Ministers to support workers who have lost their jobs, and stop this from happening again.

And when actors went on strike over AI protections - literally fighting the bots - they wrote satirical dialogue to explain absences that was fully aligned with their own world-building, instead of replacing them with AI, or other actors. Cognitive assonance, so cool, so classy, so appreciated 😭😭😭

SAG-AFTRA stands in solidarity with the Condé United and NewsGuild of New York union members who were retaliated against for questioning the closure of Teen Vogue.

(curious, do we know what the *terms* were for actors who did AI licenses for arc raiders? “They agreed to it” - to what? Core to our negotiation: some stuff you should not be pressured to agree to, you deserve certain info beforehand, & have union enforcement if violated. I wish them the same.)

Half the battle is realizing nothing is inevitable, no matter how hard the sell. The harder the sell, the more dubious the value. When folks say “the genie is out of the bottle”, it doesn’t mean “and now we must invite him to all of our parties.”

The first most important thing you can do to support workers is to listen to them. They love their work and they want to keep making games, and they deserve a union to make their work safe and sustainable. Very glad to see People Make Games follow this closely. Staying tuned and in solidarity ✊

We've got 31 game devs who are keen to get to work, @rockstargames.com.

And if you’re looking to help from afar (or locally, I suppose), IWGB set up a fund for the workers who were dismissed. bsky.app/profile/game...

Any London based game devs out there, I think this would be an important demo to show up to if you can. The UK industry has to show Rockstar and Take Two higher ups that union busting will not be tolerated.

“Turn the volume up” is just insane contemporary speech work.

Southern Democrats get shit upon by the least worthy and useful of our coalition, and that sucks, so it's important to take a minute and say: What an accomplishment. What a *feat*.

Mamdani: Whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall—your struggle is ours too

you could not make up an arc like "hunger strike outside of city hall" to "mayor who now works at city hall'

link to the whole thing! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOQT...

This person took this when they called the race

😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎

We know Rockstar can work productively with unions - making games that make huge money - because they do. These devs deserve everything. 💜✊💜

The fact that some of the companies who run the games industry are fighting so hard to stop unionization just proves how much power the workers have when they stand together. This disgusting action only delays the inevitable; solidarity will win.

Dan Houser (co-founder and former Head Writer and VP of Creativity at Rockstar) acknowledges the critical role workers have had in the success of Rockstar’s titles, yet Rockstar is engaging in one of the most ruthless acts of union-busting in UK video game history. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

Announcing: Eggplant Community Game Jam aka Eggjam #28, "Make A Broughlike"!! Join the talented devs from our discord in celebrating the oeuvre of @smestorp.bsky.social and getting into the spirit of our upcoming series, A Year of Michael Brough! itch.io/jam/eggjam-28

Looking for a party game that combines social deduction with the pleasant absurdity of rating animals, films, and the weather on a scale of ★ to ★★★★★? And it's just a simple deck of cards? AND it's live on Kickstarter now?!?! Guess what, STARFRIENDS has launched! www.kickstarter.com/projects/bra...

It's that time of year... 🍂 🎃 The Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival is BACK for 2025! 🎃 This year we can support up to 800 players at once in this seasonal pumpkin carving MMO! This year's update comes with new areas and new secrets to find. Hope you don't mind if I re-use the trailer from last year! 😅

👏👏👏✊✊✊

And to give you a sense of the book club experience, check out this lovely article from @sporkyreeve.bsky.social on GameSpot about his experience! www.gamespot.com/articles/an-...

- Most excitingly, we can announce what we'll be doing next: A Year of Michael Brough (@smestorp.bsky.social) Premiering November 12 1 game a month for 12 months, starting with 868-HACK plus other non-Brough episodes in between We hope you'll join us!

- Starting this Friday 09/20, we'll be re-airing the entire Year of UFO 50, weekly, on its own standalone feed. A much more fun way to play along - just subscribe and let the episodes come to you! Perfect for Switch/new players, tell your friends! And watch this space for a link... and finally...

- In recent weeks we crossed 1 MILLION unique downloads of our show. Thanks for helping us hit such a wild number! - We also recently celebrated the 7th anniversary of our first episode as The Spelunky Showlike. Hopefully many more years to go! (And possibly another rebrand...) and also...

On this hallowed launch anniversary of UFO 50, we have some big news to share for those who missed our epic live finale last night! (VOD here, with an extra :30 of warmup: www.twitch.tv/videos/25690... - to be trimmed and posted as audio soon...) In order of escalating coolness, news in thread:

ever since microsoft's layoffs in early july, the two zenimax unions have been fighting for impacted employees following the cancellation of the elder scrolls online studio's unannounced mmo. they've won laid-off workers more time (aka more pay), better severance, recall rights, and saved some jobs

thinking about this screenshot from Columbo that makes it look like a 90s point-and-click adventure game

Tonight! A live finale to an improbable series! @nealen.bsky.social @doougle.net @lauraehall.bsky.social @stfj.net @robdubbin.bsky.social @selmaleh.bsky.social @nsuttner.bsky.social and a swath of amazing guests, segments, and news!

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

Happy Labor Day! #UnionStrong

✊ Happy Labor Day, Gamedevs! 🎮 A month ago I released a video called "A Brief History of Labor in the USA and What It Has to Do With the Modern Games Industry" and have been absolutely floored by the response from players and devs alike. Check it out??? youtu.be/g1rlCfaRT1I?...

This weekend don't miss 🍒CHERRY RUSH🍒 The talented UFO 50 community will be livestreaming Cherry runs of every UFO 50 game, starting Friday, tomorrow morning! It's a jampacked schedule, which you can check out here: www.cherry-rush.org/schedule And it's all for a great charity--Partners in Health!

Something’s landing soon

@lydmartin.bsky.social YAY YOU'RE HERE