Mystery actor scores $500K for game voice-over

  • By TomM_GScom, GameSpot
  • Posted Feb 1, 2008 3:52 pm PT

For a time, indescribably horrific voice acting was a hallmark of video games. However, with the game industry now pulling in nearly $18 billion a year in the US alone, publishers and developers have had an easier time justifying the expenditure of a little bit extra to secure quality voice actors...

For a time, indescribably horrific voice acting was a hallmark of video games. However, with the game industry now pulling in nearly $18 billion a year in the US alone, publishers and developers have had an easier time justifying the expenditure of a little bit extra to secure quality voice actors who can deliver more than just leaden lines. Recent years have seen such renowned actors as Sir Ian McKellen, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Ron Perlman, Keith David, Lance Henriksen, Ray Liotta, Samuel L. Jackson, Chow Yun-Fat, and others deliver top-notch vocal performances.

So how much are these actors being paid to lend their real-world pipes to virtual heroes? According to Screen Actors Guild rules, voice actors can expect to be compensated $760 for one four-hour recording session, reports the Reuters news service. For celebrity voice talent, though, that number can spike exponentially. Speaking to Reuters, Blindlight production company general manager Lev Chapelsky said that some stars have demanded $750,000 for an hour's worth of work, and one voice actor actually received $500,000 for a single session. Chapelsky told Reuters that top talent commonly receives "in the high five figures for a single session."

"It has been a problem lately," Chapelsky continued. "Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the gameplay. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay."

201 Comments

  • -Muchacho-

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 9:05 am PT

    It's not as simple as it sounds, the voice acting needs allot of imput in it, so you are gonna believe the story. Ok it's allot of cash but worth it?

  • v8nnwilder

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 12:54 am PT

    I work in the industry in my country and I'm the Sound Engineer/Producer for a studio here so I work with voice artist all the time.... And even here they get paid a insane amount of money for what they do. Fair enough it is a huge talent to have but sometimes they are only in for 30min to an hour... And the get more than what I get in a week. Makes me sick...

    Anyway what i also noticed is that the "famous" people aren't always the best voice overs to work with cause with them comes a bag of s*** demands, attitudes and just plain god complexes! So I prefer working with the ones that actually sound better and can do more than the "famous"-king-diva-fied-nagging-chops (if you know what I mean).

    My point is that even thou it is great to have the famous Hollywood actors to do voice overs in a game it might not always be better. There are plenty of very good voice talent out there. And if actors do it the should get paid the same they would get paid for a movie production of the same sort... I.e Surf's Up and what not. And they basically shouldn't really do gaming voice overs unless they are actually featured in the game a character they performed in a movie and their likeness has been used.

    But hey if paying them a S*** load of money to do it makes it an all round better game I'm all for it. As long as the prices of games don't go up to make up for the money they spend on talent that is....

  • Atarii

    Posted Feb 5, 2008 7:42 am PT

    I can understand actors and actresses wanted to be paid to lend their talents to producers/game designers, but I can't grasp the idea of asking for a six figure salary for something such as this. The amount of money given to people for some reasons is indeed mind numbing.

  • zorn99

    Posted Feb 5, 2008 7:28 am PT

    Just as big name actors do not make a good movie, the same is true of voice acting in games.

    The no name voice acting talent would be more dedicated. They wouldn't expect to be in and out of the studio in a couple of hours. The game producers won't worry about doing retakes, because they wouldn't be paying some prima donna $100,000 an hour.

  • wargraymon

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 8:38 pm PT

    personally i love it when professional cartoon voice actors to the voices, like that chick doing the english voice acting from Ghost in the Maching, she's been on like the last 3 or 4 atlas games.

  • chrissp7

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 6:28 pm PT

    you know what's even worse than celebrities getting ridiculous amounts of money for poor voice acting?

    High profile athletes getting ridiculous amounts of money for obscenely abysmal voice acting. Like skate. for example, when the pro skaters speak, they sound like it's 4 in the morning and they have been put on sedatives. It's laughable. Seriously, I chuckle every time they start talking. And my favorite part of the game is the wipe outs that have the least polish possible, and they're just rag doll physics.

    I guess it's an example of a game where the faults are more entertaining than the successful aspects.

    I'm way off topic.

  • linkdarkside

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 11:17 am PT

    they should use real VA like steve blum

  • JackfnBurton

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 8:54 am PT

    Nuts, I say. Hey look, quality voice acting in a game these days is just as important to most gamers as a good story and superb visuals. But as they mention above, the gameplay is everything. It isn't as though no human being on earth but Patrick Stewart could have voiced TIber Septim in Oblivion. And for those of you who think you could do it it's still acting and is not as easy as it sounds. But there are literally THOUSANDS of out of work actors out there who would be well suited for voice over work. IMO the money should go into the development, provided the voice acting is done well I couldn't care less WHOSE voice it is.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 8:51 am PT

    I have to disagree. Voice acting can make or break the story of a game. It's hard to enjoy a good story if it is acted out badly. I don't know if $500,000 - 750,000 is really what most celebrity actors are worth for an hour. I do feel that the money spent on the celebrity actors has been a good move for those who have invested in it.

  • cyn0113

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 8:33 am PT

    It's interesting how some actors seem to do massive amounts of voice work. Mark Hamill has made a career out of video game and cartoon voices.

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 8:00 am PT

    Voice acting is nice, but there's no reason to spend buku bucks on a celeb when there are tons of lower tier actors working in the fringes that do just as well, if not better, than the big names and work for a much more reasonable wage.

    Unless it's a game based on a movie, there's no reason to use a Hollywood name in games.

  • BringTheBlood

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 7:34 am PT

    "It has been a problem lately," Chapelsky continued. "Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the gameplay. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay." your damn right gameplay is more imprortant then whos voice i hear, dont waste money on stupid over paid actors, make a good freakin game and leave it at that. thats way to much money to paying someone whos doing a damn voice, i dont care who it is. soon actors are gonna protest cause they dont get paid enough for doing voices in games, cause thats how stuck up they are.

  • rpgisforme

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 6:47 am PT

    For every actor there is a sound alike. Scarface the World is Yours for example. Being a Scarface freak I noticed the difference but not enough to ruin the game. The guy did an impressive job. The game while not incredible was still a heck of alot of fun. I'm sure many will agree with me. Spend the money on making the game good and no one will complain that you got a sound alike instead of the real star. Who's with me?

  • dryden555

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 6:47 am PT

    its only the game developer's fault if they actually pay out the 500k for voicework

  • thibbledorfP

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 5:59 am PT

    Hah, these celebrities are idiots. So self-absorbed. Having a celebrity do a good voice-over is just the sprinkles on the icecream. I buy the game for the icecream. The sprinkles are not worth that much.

  • FatalFist

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 4:04 am PT

    I'll do it for free as well...heck I'll be in NFS Series...lol

  • FTB_Screamer

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 2:49 am PT

    The 500 000 pay check most probably went to Patrick Stewart for Oblivion.

  • W1r3d

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 1:49 am PT

    I'm shocked an scared. I hope that for that fee they get the rights to use that voice sample in more then one game. Otherwise it's just horrific fees. I agree with what people have stated previously. $500k is better spent on gameplay then voice acting. Fair enough if it's a game based on a movie. Sure you need the right actors etc. Maybe then it would make a difference. I'd hate to see some kind of actors guild turn the gaming industry into some kind of second Hollywood. A industry where we are subject to the same voices over and over and over again. Just because it's "the thing" to have Al pacino play a lawyer/mobster/shout out loud cursing machine. No thank you! If that was true and i was to vote with my dollars then I'd buy a nintendo8bit system.

  • sean_ph

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 12:44 am PT

    I wonder how much the voice acting cost in Mass Effect. That game had serious amounts of well-written and well-acted dialogue.

  • Legendary_Bibo

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 9:25 pm PT

    While patrick stewart's did fit the voice of the emperor in oblivion, some of these actors sometimes don't fit the character, I mean look at the voices of altair, kratos, solid snake; their voices fit perfectly, can you imagine if they hired tom cruise to do kratos's voice? that would ruin the game for me.

  • BorgMind00

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 8:23 pm PT

    This has to be the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while. Who ever made the decision to pay $500,000 for a voice over should be fired. I don't EVER buy a game because of a famous voice and I would like to think most gamers out there follow suite only because most people have a little thing called sense. Worst of all, they're setting a bad precedence for the rest of Hollywood to demand the same if not more. In the end, the consumer is the one that gets screwed. Pretty soon, they'll say development cost on games have gone up and we [the consumers] will be expected to pick up the tab. I buy a game for the game play and not to hear some egomaniac say a few lines. Frankly, it gets kind of annoying when I hear that "famous" voice over and over again. The game industry has become quiet profitable when compared to the movie industry and those greedy bastards just want a piece of that too. It's as simple as that.

  • leafdj

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 7:36 pm PT

    Samuel L. Jackson voice-acted? Oh god... I sure hope there were no Snakes on a Plane references...

  • T070Y

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 7:18 pm PT

    MMM interesting. I m looking for job in the voice industry

  • Unleaded_Fuel

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 6:19 pm PT

    You mean to say that the people who did the voice acting in the Resident Evil series got paid roughly $760? The way they sounded it was like they were just random people off the street.

  • spawn611

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 6:00 pm PT

    who cares about the voice , saves that money and just make a good game

  • Tanjavasi

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 5:57 pm PT

    Good/believable voice acting is very important to me - it can make or break a game.
    However, big celebrities are not needed! Some of them, do an embarrassingly bad job anyway (David Duchovny in Area 51)

    Games like: Final Fantasy XII, Digital Devil Saga, Bioshock etc. all feature terrific voice acting without the inclusion of any "big" names.

  • glitchgeeman

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 5:29 pm PT

    And this is why we should have non-Hollywood actors doing our voice overs. The problem with big name actors is that they think that they're making or breaking a game with their 'godly' voices. I'd rather have that $500,000 going towards making the game better than a few lines of nice dialogue. Mario and Zelda games are prime examples of games that don't need a lot of voice overs to be amazing.

  • blancobo

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 4:25 pm PT

    Just use some ordinary people and push the bar so they can deliver a better voice over job. It is the responsibility of the director to demand the product of the voice over actor. If the studios pay thaqt much is because they are expecting the renowned voice to do some pushing fwd publicity. If the issue is quality then just hold on to that 4 hour session and pay some guy to do it for that much, and in about 12, 20 or what ever hours... There are people out there who can do it for a lot less, use the good money and would love to do the job.

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 4:17 pm PT

    "rbreckel Sign me up! I would do it for 1/2 that much Posted Feb 1, 2008 5:56 pm CT"

    Agreed, money's money right? Funny thing is if they really needed to (cause a game's going over budget) I bet they could license AT&T's Natural Voice program or a text to speech program like it, or better yet find an unknown of the street who actualy cares about what they are doing and it shows through how they emote with their voice...and still payless. I'd be satisfied with just 1,000 bucks but that's just me.

    My main concern would be whether or not the game is complete. And when I say a thousand I mean just the one payment for the whole tour. ie if its a week of work not just 4 hours.

    Let's do the math shal we? They get paid 760 for 4 hours of work right? so let's say for a typical game they have 5 of these 4 hour sessions. So that's 5* 760 = $3,800 so that's 3,800 for a well known versus $1,000 total for someone like me. Almost 4 times cheaper right and its only one time. And we're not even talking about the 5 figured actors/actresses with their 700/500k. Compared to them thats 700 - 500k cheaper for the whole week of recording not just one session. That's good cause its cheaper you get more for your money and could spend the rest in improoving the gameplay and controls.

  • the_greenzero

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    You must be out of your damn mind t ask for that much money, tell you one thing just like that last quote said they are only one small contribution to the whole game.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 3:24 pm PT

    "The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay."

    Quote of the decade perhaps?

  • K-Grogg

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 3:13 pm PT

    This is such bull...there is no way the designers/developers are making that much for creating content, writing stories, or designing levels! This is as stupid as how much athletes in the major team sport leagues get paid. As they said themselves, no one's going to buy a **** game just because we can hear Captain Picard voicing our Emperor, there have to be voice actors who are just as good as our movie actors out there who are just as worthy of this job but willing tog et paid 1/10 of the price. Dumb.

  • GoldenRamoth

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 2:47 pm PT

    such a silly waste. i do like the better voice acting, but wouldn't it be easier/cheaper to do a game Zelda style with text instead of words. I mean, 500k? just spend the money on something better... say graphics. Such a waste. ergh.

  • playa42018

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 2:27 pm PT

    The voice talent is almost as important as graphics.....not very important.

  • slick_gio

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 12:37 pm PT

    No voice actor should be getting that kind of money. Stick to $760 for 4 hours. I could care less that some Hollywood type person is lending a voice for any given game. I buy games to play them, not to listen to some "star" say a few lines.

  • ftjx

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 12:13 pm PT

    thats stupid, shouldnt be profitable

  • AdaptorLive

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 12:09 pm PT

    I wonder what the costs were for the voice-talent in Mass Effect. It definitely was a game that benefited from great actors and maybe one of few games that can justify these kinds of salaries.

  • VolcanicDemon

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 11:44 am PT

    There doesn't need to be hollywood actors voice acting in games! Just get some average joe who sounds good and they will do. The money should go in to how the game plays, how it looks and multiplayer.

  • VolcanicDemon

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 11:43 am PT

    There doesn't need to be hollywood actors voice acting in games! Just get some average joe who sounds good and they will do. The money should go in to how the game plays, how it looks and multiplayer.

  • louzero

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 11:37 am PT

    Wait....voice acting can make or break a game? Really? I think it can be a slight annoyance at times, and I have made fun of bad voice acting (Assassins Creed) but I have never gone out and bought a game because "Ohhh GOD! LANCE BASS FROM N'SYNC IS SEPHIROTH IN KINGDOM HEARTS! I MUST BUY THIS!"

  • DFTricks

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 11:22 am PT

    Wow! I could not have said better: "In a game, the entertainment is about the gameplay. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay."

  • polimoto

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 11:20 am PT

    500,000 for a single session.....

    Absolutely ridiculous.....

  • Bloodzombie77

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 10:42 am PT

    Tell me about it. These A-listers don't give a **** about the game, nor the quality of their work, if they get a quarter million dollars, that's all that matters. Look at the Spider-man 3 game, they got the original cast to do the voices, and the only one that sounded genuine was the girl that played Mary Jane, and she was the ONLY one that wasn't an original cast member!

    http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/spiderman3/player_review.html?id=451243

    read the first paragraph in my review.

  • pantweasel

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 10:08 am PT

    I don't understand why high-caliber actors need that much money for one hour of a voice-over session. If I were making millions of dollars on movies, I wouldn't care about getting as much as $750,000 for a session. I'd probably go with $760 for tax reasons alone.

  • spikedwraith

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 10:04 am PT

    500k? I'd do it for free...especially if it was a game i enjoyed playing.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 9:28 am PT

    Hey, voice acting is a really factor to making the player stay on to the story! Try cutting back on the emotions and see how fast i'll reach for the OFF switch!

    Good example of games with bad voice acting has to be the (US version) Dynasty Warriors series ... but the Japanese versions always deliver the right emotions ... no wonder i've always stuck out to play the Japanese release!

  • csf_dave09

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 9:06 am PT

    just goes to show you how high and mighty some actors are. to demand more than half a million dollars to read a script, just stupid

  • BigBoss7460

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 8:52 am PT

    "gasmaskman: Though the MGS series has always been awesome even though they never really had any known actors."

    I totally agree with you on that one, MGS has some of the best voice acting. It's good they didn't screw up on voice acting, otherwise the cutscenes and codec conversations wouldn't have sucked you in like they do. Other games like Gears of War and Mass Effect have really good voice acting too. I do think it's ridiculous how much the voice actors are getting paid, though. I've gotta agree with most of the people on here, I would rather have a really good game with no voice acting (Final Fantasy I-IX, anyone?) instead of a crappy game with voice acting.

  • Campbell42

    Posted Feb 3, 2008 8:26 am PT

    That much money for one session? Ridiculous.

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