As SAG-AFTRA's anti-AI voice actor strike extends to League of Legends, Riot maintains that it's been simply been caught in the crossfire

After threatening to do so back in July, SAG-AFTRA, a union that represents over 160,000 professionals across acting and performance disciplines, went ahead with a strike. The strike in question targets AI-generated voice work which, the union claims, requires «fair, reasonable AI protections» to avert a future of talent exploitation, where voice actors aren't cajoled into signing off on allowing companies to use their voice in perpetuity.

In a statement this Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA added League of Legends to the list of videogames under strike: «SAG-AFTRA members must immediately cease providing covered services to League of Legends and the game will be updated on the union’s search function as a struck game.»

The League strike isn't quite targeting Riot Games, but rather Formosa Interactive, a production company that works with multiple studios on different games including Helldivers 2, God of War: Ragnarok, Death Stranding, Apex Legend—the list goes on. SAG-AFTRA alleges that Formosa tried to subvert the strike by attempting to "'cancel' one of its struck videogames shortly after the start of SAG-AFTRA’s videogame strike. When they were told that was not possible, they secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'NON-UNION' talent only."

These, the union maintains, are «egregious violations of core tenets of labour law—that employers cannot interfere with performers’ rights to form or join a union and they cannot discriminate against union performers.»

Riot took to Twitter to defend its innocence, writing: «League of Legends has nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA’s press release.

»We want to be clear: since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only asked Formosa to engage with Union performers in the US and has never once suggested doing otherwise. In addition, we’ve never asked Formosa to cancel a game that we’ve registered. All of the allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release