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VA claims he's made less money from voicing three characters in BOTW than he's made from Freedom Planet

Neat

Neat

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,107
New York City
So this has come out as a result of the recent claims made by Bayonetta's voice actress Hellena Taylor about what she was offered for Bayonetta 3. Sean Chiplock voiced three characters in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild including Revali, Teba, and the Great Deku Tree. He mentioned on Twitter that he got paid hourly for that gig, earning $2000-$3000 for the work he did on the game, which is wild. He mentions this is actually lower than what he made from Freedom Planet, an indie game with nowhere near the same kind of popularity or sales figures, because unlike the case with BOTW, he actually earned royalties for Freedom Planet. Tweet follows below:


View: https://twitter.com/sonicmega/status/1581321513067683840

EDIT: Chiplock on his work for Detective Pikachu


View: https://twitter.com/sonicmega/status/1581330480179208192
 
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Kard8p3

Kard8p3

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,273
VAs don't get the respect they deserve, and yeah botw did have little dialog but i mean cmon.
 
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
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Oct 25, 2017
85,433
Houston, TX
Like I said in the other thread, this sadly doesn't surprise me given how notoriously cheap Nintendo is about voice actors. This needs to change.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

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Oct 25, 2017
22,489
How much VA work does Freedom Planet have? BotW was a big game, but had very little dialogue all things considered so I don't know if that's necessarily bad considering how few lines he'd have there
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,933
This seems... less controversial? I mean VA talent should be paid more generally but this wasn't exactly a huge amount of labor either relatively?

Was the VA brought back for AOC? I can't remember if Revali had many lines for that game?
 
Lord Vatek

Lord Vatek

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Jan 18, 2018
21,523
When you consider that celebrity voice actors can be paid far more for less work on nothing but their name, then no. This isn't reasonable.
 
NioA

NioA

Member
Dec 16, 2019
3,646
The situations are a bit incomparable though, Revali has like four scenes in which he speaks 30 words

If anything, it makes the entire 4000$ offer to Taylor even more ridiculous, since the amount of work that would be done in voicing the protagonist for many hours is ten times more

I had no idea the VAs were treated so badly though, and Sean Chiplock is not exactly a no one either (he voices Diluc from Genshin and that's one of the most famous characters). This industry is so fucked up
 

giapel

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,604
I'm all for VA's (or any other creatives really) to be paid more fairly but can't realistically expect sales royalties.
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,775
Lord Vatek said:
When you consider that celebrity voice actors can be paid far more for less work on nothing but their name, then no. This isn't reasonable.
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That's saying more that the situation regarding celebrities is shit out of whack, rather than this being a weird situation. This is closer to how the norm should be, not the other way around.

EDIT: And yes, I think this is being underpaid. 3 voices, central voices even, for a game on the caliber of BotW should be paid more.
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,705
He flat out says he got paid more from Freedom Planet based on residuals, which for VAs is VERY RARE. It's possible that deal was because the base pay was lower. Who knows.

View: https://twitter.com/sonicmega/status/1581329126861901824

It's not really similar to Bayo.

Although it makes me wonder why the dev suggested it. For an indie dev to, and for him to take it, it means either
  1. They were just being altruistic and giving their VAs an especially good deal
  2. They believed the presumably lower one time payment would still be cheaper than the residual payment, basically an assessment on how well their game would perform
  3. He believed the game would perform as such that the lower base payment + residuals > one time payment
 
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Lord Vatek

Lord Vatek

Avenger
Jan 18, 2018
21,523
Noppie said:
That's saying more that the situation regarding celebrities is shit out of whack, rather than this being a weird situation. This is closer to how the norm should be, not the other way around.
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BotW made millions. They can absolutely afford to pay voice actors more. Freedom Planet could.
 
NetMapel

NetMapel

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Oct 25, 2017
3,430
Kard8p3 said:
VAs don't get the respect they deserve, and yeah botw did have little dialog but i mean cmon.
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It's going to be REALLY interesting in the future when AI voices become feasible, I feel. Would there still be a need a human VA who does like 30 lines for a character like BOTW's Revali?
 
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,433
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fiendcode said:
This seems... less controversial? I mean VA talent should be paid more generally but this wasn't exactly a huge amount of labor either relatively?

Was the VA brought back for AOC? I can't remember if Revali had many lines for that game?
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He came back for AoC, yes. But still, Nintendo can & should pay more. They make enough money to do it.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,489
Noppie said:
That's saying more that the situation regarding celebrities is shit out of whack, rather than this being a weird situation. This is closer to how the norm should be, not the other way around.

EDIT: And yes, I think this is being underpaid. 3 voices, central voices even, for a game on the caliber of BotW should be paid more.
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Only Revali is actually a major role of the 3, Deku tree has like 2 lines and Teba didn't do that much either. And even with Revali, he only has a handful of voiced lines. Like compared to the Bayonetta example, there are probably hours worth of cutscenes alone featuring voiced Bayonetta lines compared to probably a less then half an hour of dialogue for all three characters combined. The freedom planet making more is a result of royalties as he said so it's not actually a one-one comparison (and honestly I think there's a large number of people who deserve royalties in a game like BotW before the VAs)
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,933
Neoxon said:
He came back for AoC, yes. But still, Nintendo can & should pay more. They make enough money to do it.
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Oh for sure. Nintendo's the biggest and most profitable console games publisher. They should absolutely be leading by example in this and other areas (notably QA). They need to do better.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,489
Neoxon said:
You know it's fucked up when even The Pokémon Company pays voice actors more than Nintendo proper.
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It sounds like this was a result of it being a film since I think they're talking about the movie, not the game, so the pay was probably arranged by the movie studio, not TPCi. I imagine the bit parts in the mario movie will pay similarly
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,705
Neoxon said:
You know it's fucked up when even The Pokémon Company pays voice actors more than Nintendo proper.
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Well, he literally said it's because it's a movie and those typically pay residuals while video games pretty much never do. I'm wondering why VA unions haven't tried changing this with regards to videogames. This is what their collective bargaining power is supposed to be for
 
RomanceDawn

RomanceDawn

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Oct 29, 2017
1,206
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Sean agreed to Nintendo's deal and that is more or less that. Some projects don't give royalties or residuals. I've had small roles on smaller projects that eventually paid more than bigger roles on bigger projects due to the residuals given.

I think it would be nice if some bonuses were given to those voice actors due to the success of Breath of the Wild but that's between the two willing parties working with one another.
 
Neoxon

Neoxon

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Oct 25, 2017
85,433
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Aaronrules380 said:
It sounds like this was a result of it being a film since I think they're talking about the movie, not the game, so the pay was probably arranged by the movie studio, not TPCi. I imagine the bit parts in the mario movie will pay similarly
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808s & Villainy said:
Well, he literally said it's because it's a movie and those typically pay residuals while video games pretty much never do. I'm wondering why VA unions haven't tried changing this with regards to videogames. This is what their collective bargaining power is supposed to be for
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I thought it was the game, but interesting that it was actually the movie.
 
Teenage Fansub

Teenage Fansub

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May 24, 2019
22,212
I dunno how anyone but the most in demand VAs make a living on day/hour rates when their projects might only take one session. Maybe if they're regulars on a series, but I also imagine they bang out as many episodes in a day as they can.
 
inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,256
does anyone in games get royalites?

dev can get profit sharing and bonuses, but only if you're full time and hang around,
nothing followies you like in the more established / unionised arts

(edit: although tales of regular checks for $00.fuckall cents take the shine off that)
 
AlexBasch

AlexBasch

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,313
Sheesh, now it makes sense why voice actors do a lot of anime/gaming conventions and Cameo greetings, doesn't it? They do an amazing job that pays little, it's unfair.
 
FantasticMrFoxdie

FantasticMrFoxdie

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
16,409
Mushroom Kingdom
jeesus nintendo on some stingy bullshit. especially considering the BotW has 25 million+ sales. holy shit that's ridiculous. no residuals for that is so sad.


i guess we know why there are barely VA in their games.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
If I recall correctly translators get paid very little too. You would think they would get royalties like published authors but nope
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,705
inpHilltr8r said:
does anyone in games get royalites?

dev can get profit sharing and bonuses, but only if you're full time and hang around,
nothing followies you like in the more established / unionised arts

(edit: although tales of regular checks for $00.fuckall cents take the shine off that)
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The VA has said it's so rare it's unprecedented
 
YohraUtopia

YohraUtopia

Member
Apr 1, 2021
1,137
Aaronrules380 said:
It sounds like this was a result of it being a film since I think they're talking about the movie, not the game, so the pay was probably arranged by the movie studio, not TPCi. I imagine the bit parts in the mario movie will pay similarly
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808s & Villainy said:
Well, he literally said it's because it's a movie and those typically pay residuals while video games pretty much never do. I'm wondering why VA unions haven't tried changing this with regards to videogames. This is what their collective bargaining power is supposed to be for
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Yes, the Detective Pikachu thing has nothing to do with the company and everything to do with how collective bargaining agreements for films (that screen theatrically) are basically completely different that video game contracts. And the reason there hasn't been as much (some but really miniscule) union support is that voice actors are represented by the same union (SAG AFTRA) represent a wide-range of workers and does not treat them all with the same value (which is fucking terrible but all-too-common in what are often termed business-unions in the US. (And actually SAG isn't the worst by a long shot. And particularly the various film unions are some of the most comprehensive around. IATSE for example which represents a lot of the technical work - from low level gaffers to high level technicians - is well known especially for getting pretty good deals on working hours, safety, etc. even for its "low tier" members.)
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

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Oct 27, 2017
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Why is it the norm for movies to pay residuals and not games?

Why is it sacrilege to suggest games offer residuals too?
 
pbayne

pbayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,403
I wonder how his role in the trails games compare? Like in those he is voicing at least around 50 hours of voiced content as the main character
 
Mattmo831

Mattmo831

Featuring Mattmo831 from the Apple v Epic case
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Oct 26, 2020
3,318
I mean they paid him the standard fare for VA work for hours worked... BUT i think games should have residuals like movies and tv shows do so actors get paid the proper amount. If they did that id have no problem tbh with them paying that low fee.

Since games make so so so so much money they should pay their actors way more to offset them not getting residuals
 
Renna Hazel

Renna Hazel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,608
Spacejaws said:
I suppose. Would be nice if they changed that. Good performances/good scripts should be valued way more in gaming imo.
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They should, BotW definitely doesn't fall into that category though.

Plot and acting is the main draw of most movies, it's hardly a thing in BotW.

This topic title sounds bad but it makes perfect sense when you factor in the context of the situations. If you did more work on Freedom Planet, why should the pay for BotW be higher?
 
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