Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies is in a bad situation right now, as day after day we’re closer to losing the very reason we first thought this game mode would be revived: Nolan North’s Edward Rictofen. With many of the Black Ops 6 Zombies voice actors being members of the SAG-AFTRA union, some of them have already left the project to join the strike that’s been going on against AI-generated content. However, Activision has finally responded to this and its language is somewhat of an ambiguous “we said something” than genuinely explaining the whole situation or giving any indication on how they plan to solve it.
What’s The Story About Black Ops 6 Zombies Voice Actors?
There are so many takes and 30-minute long videos about this situation, but I’m going to put it as clearly cut as possible here: Some of Black Ops 6 voice actors are a part of a union called SAG-AFTRA, which protects their talent against companies and their agreements on using their talent on their shows. SAG-AFTRA demands a contract with companies like Activision Blizzard to protect their voice actors against generative AI abuse of their skill, and they haven’t made a deal yet.
Now, until the target company doesn’t come up with an agreement, the SAG-AFTRA members have gone on a strike to stop publishers replacing voices with AI. And, our beloved Black Ops 6 Zombies characters such as Samantha Maxis and Edward Richtofen’s voice actors are a part of this union, and some of them have already left the project.
First, we found that William Peck’s voice from Black Ops Cold War changed in BO6, and then with Citadelle des Morts‘ launch, the same happened with S.A.M in a more obvious way. Zeke Alton and Julie Nathanson voiced the aforementioned characters respectively later, then confirmed their departure from the project, at least for now, and here’s what Activision has said about it today to Game Developer:
“We respect the personal choice of these performers. Out of respect for all parties, we won’t add new commentary about the ongoing negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. We look forward to a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible.”
Exactly, the wording is so bad and untransparent and it could mean only one thing: The Black Ops 6 Zombies voice actors roles have not been fully replaced yet, but they could be. So in other words, Activision is not willing to fully confirm the recast, and the voice actors are not saying they’ve left BO6 and the Zombies mode as a whole. So is there hope? Yes, fingers crossed. But it’s still concerning.
The kind of wording within Activision’s message means that there’s a 50/50 chance that they will come up with an agreement to keep the talents. But the one thing that’s been eating my brain for weeks now is why doesn’t Activision make an Interim Interactive Media Agreement if they’re confident that they’ll come up with a possible solution in the future? This means that the actors can work and their talent is protected against AI so long as they work on BO6. A temporary contract let’s say.
And on the other hand, Black Ops 6 is not a struck project due to the fact that its production started before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. So in other words, voice actors can still work with Treyarch Studios and Activision if they want to without causing any sort of damage to their SAG-AFTRA membership. It’s just way too complicated.
As of right now, all we can hope for is that Activision makes a deal to keep the talent that gives meaning to the Zombies characters we know and love. And, if there’s anything that the fanbase should know about, it’ll be so much better if we get to know that Julie Nathanson isn’t voicing S.A.M anymore than discovering it ourselves with an ugly mark of disappointment in the game.
