Potential Impact of SAG-AFTRA Strike on Custom Voice Overs for League of Legends Skins

The video game voice actors strike is now in its fifth month, and Riot Games is implementing “temporary adjustments” to its voice handling for in-game League of Legends skins. These adjustments come months after SAG-AFTRA requested the Formosa Interactive, the voiceover studio for the popular MOBA, to be included in the strike back in September.

Given that League’s PC version is a struck title, union actors are prohibited from recording lines for it during the strike. Consequently, skins for champions with actors based primarily in the United States will utilize pre-recorded “base voiceovers (VO)” instead of lines performed by various actors. Once the strike concludes, the studio plans to enhance those affected skins with new lines from their original actors “as soon as scheduling permits.”

Certain skins modify a character’s voice, and actors tailor their performances and record new lines to embody that theming. Riot mentioned its new ‘policy’ primarily affects English-language voices, so other languages will maintain customized VO “as intended.” They also emphasized that while the mobile game League of Legends: Wild Rift will not be struck, it may still deliver character skins with similar unsatisfactory VO if an actor for that title chooses not to voice in solidarity with their peers.

“We acknowledge this isn’t ideal, and we appreciate that it’s frustrating to await custom VO,” stated Riot. “However, this approach allows us to respect the ongoing strike while still providing new content. We are dedicated to delivering updated VO with the quality you expect as quickly as possible.”

Riot was further entangled in the strike when the actors’ union filed a charge of unfair labor practices against Formosa, accusing it of seeking non-union talent for a struck game from Riot.

Shortly after, the developer issued a statement clarifying it was uninvolved in Formosa’s alleged conduct, and that the project in question “relates to a non-Riot [title], and has no connection to League or any of our games.”

For its part, Formosa also dismissed SAG-AFTRA’s allegations at the time, claiming it “has not acted in any way to undermine employee or union rights, nor our relationship with the union. […] We stand with developers, publishers, platform holders, and talent to support global game development in a manner that is safe and ethical for everyone.”

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