Voice actor Jennifer Hale wants little introduction, having gained fame taking part in characters like Metroid Prime’s Samus Aran, Bastila Shan from Knights of the Outdated Republic, and naturally Mass Impact’s one true Commander Shepard. She’s additionally recognized for Konami’s Metallic Gear Stable collection, wherein she’s performed the shifty geneticist Naomi Hunter because the collection’ inception in 1998. However in a latest podcast look, Hale revealed that her first MGS gig voicing that vital character paid solely $1,200.
Beforehand, Hale prevented naming Metallic Gear Stable straight in interviews, solely saying in September {that a} “recreation made $176 million” and paid her an hourly wage that was “manner lower than [what] I needed it to be.” However in this week’s episode of the My Excellent Console podcast, presently out there in early entry, Hale responded rapidly to host and critic Simon Parkin’s query as to what that $176 million recreation was: It was Metallic Gear Stable.
She agreed with Parkin that her authentic MGS pay, $1,200, is at a “grotesque disparity” with $176 million, saying “it’s indicative of what’s taking place in trendy tradition. […] For each greenback that the workaday particular person makes—and [voice actors] are workaday folks; all actors, on-camera, voice-over, who usually are not celebrities are workaday folks—we make a greenback for each $399 [executives] make.”
Learn Extra: Video Sport Voice Actors Are Prepared To Strike Over AI. Right here’s WhyPurchase Metallic Gear Stable: Grasp Assortment Vol. 1: Amazon | Finest Purchase | GameStop
Nonetheless, “I like [Metal Gear],” Hale mentioned. “It was such a loopy departure from something I’d finished earlier than. I beloved it as a result of it was good, and since it was simply so distinctive. […] And it’s darkish, and it’s mysterious, and it’s intense, and […] I beloved all the pieces about it.”
At the moment, Hale is one in all many online game voice actors ready to strike over what they inform Kotaku is “an existential combat to guarantee that they dangle on to the rights to their very own voices, their very own photographs, as a result of that’s what they make their residing with, in addition to obtain wages that can sustain with inflation in order that they will proceed to be professionals on this house economically.”
Throughout her podcast look, Hale bolstered this final level and mentioned she needs voice actors to obtain residuals for recreation work “on a versatile construction that honors the indie builders, that honors the budgets and capacities of groups. I want to see that.”
SAG-AFTRA members approved a online game strike with a 98 % “sure” vote on September 25.
