Niko speaks out on voice actors' pay

By Oli Welsh Published 22 May, 2008

Blames union for lack of GTA royalties.

Michael Hollick, the voice actor who portrayed Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV, has had a pop at his union for failing to protect voice acting talent in games - or getting him more money, reports GamesIndustry.biz.

According to a New York Times article, Hollick was paid roughly USD 100,000 over 15 months for his voice acting and motion-capture work on GTA IV. He takes issue with the fact that he will not receive royalties or residuals as he would for work on television programmes, films, radio shows or albums.

"The first GTA IV trailer generated something like 40 million hits online, and that's my voice all over it, and I get nothing," Hollick said. "If that were a radio spot, I would have. Same thing for the TV ads."

Contracts between the actors' union and the entertainment industry make little or no provision for electronic media like videogames and the Internet.

"Obviously I'm incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity," said Hollick.

"But it's tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they're making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don't see any of it.

"I don't blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games."

Hollick said that it is the human performances within the games that people really connect to, and he hopes actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies.

"What drives videogames is not Tracy and Hepburn; what drives it is the conception of the creative director," said Ezra J. Doner - a former Hollywood executive who is now an entertainment lawyer.

"The actor whose appearance or voice is used is more analogous to a session musician for a band. The session musicians don't get residuals on the sales of the CD. They get paid a session fee," he told the New York Times.

"It's not like the star quality of Tom Cruise that's getting people to buy that videogame."

Ryan Johnston, the voice actor who portrayed Irish hood Patrick McReary in Grand Theft Auto IV - at a pay rate of USD 1,050 a day, about 50 per cent higher than the general guild-negotiated rate - said he believed it was just a matter of time before actors' financial participation in games caught up with their popularity.

The discrepancy between payment for traditional entertainment media and electronic media is expected to dominate negotiations between Hollywood and the actors' guild this summer, with many predicting an actors' strike to parallel the writers' strike last year. That strike revolved around similar issues.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • asphaltcowboy #1 4 years ago

    He signed the contract, he knew what he was getting, stop complaining! I wouldn't mind getting $100,000 for 15 months work! Also, he did some great voice work on the game, that should land him PLENTY of new jobs. Bit of a shame he's thrown a hissy fit.

  • bad09 #2 4 years ago

    Like Hollywood (first writers, actors next apparently), the vultures are out for their pound of royalty flesh. How people can moan about a $100,000 salary for a year of talking into a mic and doing some motion capture shows how greedy the world is now.

    Sod 'em Rockstar, if you pay that for a year of piss easy work I'll do the next one for ya and won't care one bit about royalties!

  • tobsen #3 4 years ago

    Here's the chance for Rockstar to make an incredibly good PR move by just paying this guy a little voluntary extra from their $1.000.000.000 revenue.

  • GordonCaladan #4 4 years ago

    R*, I'd put on a fake Serb accent for USD 100,000 and not complain afterwards.

  • HermitArcader #5 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #6 4 years ago

    FUCK THAT!

    If I don't get royalties for the games I work on (I'm a programmer) then the actors can bollocks. This is one hell of an issue for me. The hours of work and the blood and sweat that development teams put in FAR outweighs that of any actor!

    /Rant over.

    EDIT: I would like to point out at this point that I didn't work on GTA IV and I also acknowledge that it's Rockstar the company that are getting copious amount of moolah for this game anyway. What I'm getting at is that if externals should get royalties from Rockstar than the internal dev team should too. Ok, they'll probably have gotten a bonus but that's pretty static and will also pale in comparison to the amount of profit Rockstar have made.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 09:08

  • cloud_ix #7 4 years ago

    he shouldn't get a penny more, It's the hard working developement team that do all of the work they are the ones who should be earning more and they don't get 100,000$ for 15 months work, actors only add to a game, they doen't need to be recognisable and they sure as hell don't make it 10/10 on their own, oh an they don't have to work everyday + weekends + overtime to do it.

  • X201 #8 4 years ago

    He obviously knows very little about Rockstar, Ray Liotta pissed them off when he moaned about money after Vice City hence the switch to unknown voice actors for GTA IV.

    He gets paid a set fee for a set job. He knew the deal when he started.
    Have you heard the musicians who recorded the theme tune to The Simpsons moaning? No, they were paid a flat fee when they recorded it.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 09:07

  • DrDamn #9 4 years ago

    I think you really need to look at the creative force that makes the game that people want to buy and play. That is not the voiceover artist it's the dev team, the designers, programmers and artists. Maybe he would get some sympathy if he was speaking up for them in the first instance.

  • sickpuppysoftware #10 4 years ago

    USD 100,000 for an "unknown quantity"
    If I was him I'd shut up pretty sharpish.

    If rockstar want a brummie in the next one I'll quite happily do it for that money and I won't bleat about royalties afterwards.

  • anomagnus #11 4 years ago

    no offense, but what was he expecting

    its not a movie or radio add, the hard work is down by programmers over years. all he did was provide the voice work, and he got a handsome from it.

    now, if i were him, would i be feeling bitter, of course i would, but if i was a voice actor with my knowledge of video games, i would have known how much GTA would sell and asked for more.

    still, 100k is good work, for simply SPEAKING. I speak all day, no one listens to me, and i do it for free.

  • wattoo #12 4 years ago

    "What drives videogames is not Tracy and Hepburn; what drives it is the conception of the creative director," said Ezra J. Doner - a former Hollywood executive who is now an entertainment lawyer.

    "The actor whose appearance or voice is used is more analogous to a session musician for a band. The session musicians don't get residuals on the sales of the CD. They get paid a session fee," he told the New York Times.

    "It's not like the star quality of Tom Cruise that's getting people to buy that videogame."

  • bad09 #13 4 years ago

    "If rockstar want a brummie in the next one I'll quite happily do it for that money and I won't bleat about royalties afterwards."

    GTA: Birmingham? A 10/10 game in the making there sickpuppysoftware :)

  • HermitArcader #14 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    No need to say anything else except I completely agree with everything asphaltcowboy wrote in the first post.

  • DFawkes #16 4 years ago

    I honestly thought more would agree he should've been treated the same as a voice actor on a TV or radio show, they get royalties so why shouldn't he? That's not my opinion, I think he signed his voice away for a price he had agreed and that's that, but I did think at least one person would try to use this to elevate gaming as an art form. Not me. Just someone.

  • zuljin #17 4 years ago

    @redneon
    If you don't get royalties on the games you work on then you're getting screwed. Theres a few companies out there that pass on profits to the core dev team.

  • paulf #18 4 years ago

    yes he did get a decent whack for 15 months work and knew what he was signing up for, however he does have a point but then it's up to his agent to negotiate a better deal for him.

    although he's not a big name and the game wont be sold on his name alone - he is niko bellic so you could argue that he deserves more than a flat cheque.

    as for the writers and actors wanting more money, thats to do with studios making money from different distribution platforms and not sharing the love - in a fair world all the people involved would take a share of the profits made - which happened iirc with the 'full monty' film

  • the_dudefather #19 4 years ago

    YELLOW CAR!!!

  • stoopidgreg #20 4 years ago

    jesus the guy who played patrick mcreary got £500 a day and he's a total unknown?! on imdb it says he was in one episode of some tv show and that's his whole career. how did he manage £500 a day?

  • rob230 #21 4 years ago

    Your union sucks, fair enough. Now go do the DLC before they ditch you for whining

  • Zomoniac #22 4 years ago

    GTA: Birmingham? A 10/10 game in the making there sickpuppysoftware :)

    The Brummy guy in VCS was cool.

  • silver-jon #23 4 years ago

    My dad earned his living as a musician and found the same situation with contracts in the 60s. For example, you know the Pearl & Dean theme ? Ba-baaa ba-baaa ba-baa ba ba baaaa (etc). He sang that. It went in cinemas around the world for about 30 years. His pay ? £200.
    Apparently the guy who played the trumpet on the Coronation Street theme got paid about £40. And no royalties.

    On the one hand, Hollick got steady work fairly paid (that works out to £40,000 p.a.) and has a high-profile thing on his CV (far more valuable than the $100K). On the other hand, why should acting work on games be any different contractually to acting in films or TV or radio or, in fact, any popular media ? I think he has a point, but it appears to be a bit crass complaining because of the game's success (which has little to do with his acting ability).

  • asphaltcowboy #24 4 years ago

    @zuljin: You might get a small bonus (but the game has to sell ridiculously well/make a phenomenal profit) but you certainly don't get royalties in the 'acting' sense.

  • speedjack #25 4 years ago

    I'd say this was sour grapes if it wasn't for the fact that he did such a damn fine job.

    Don't underestimate the difference a good voice actor makes. Bioshock is another great example, for a bad example try any Sonic game or badly voiced JRGP.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 09:44

  • zuljin #26 4 years ago

    @asphaltcowboy
    Well ofcourse the game has to sell, thats kinda the point of royalties. Having said that, I've known people to get anything from nothing to a few months salary, to far more.

  • Meho #27 4 years ago

    "R*, I'd put on a fake Serb accent for USD 100,000 and not complain afterwards. "

    Being a Serb myself, I have to say that Niko's accent is pretty obviously Russian and that I had a lot of laughs hearing Serbian (or Croatian, or Bosnian, or Montenegrin, whatever) phrases spoken with a thick Russian accent. Now, it could be that Rockstar didn't really give a shit about authenticity and just said 'fuck'em, all eastern Europeans are the same anyway' or that this is a metamedial comment in the vein of 'to westerners all the eastern Europeans are the same so we'll laugh at our audience by giving them a guy with a stereotypical Russian accent, playing the role of an ex-Yugoslav immigrant'.

  • HermitArcader #28 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • paulf #29 4 years ago

    or just realised that 99.9% of their audience wouldnt know the difference anyway :)

  • DanWhitehead #30 4 years ago

    Anyone who thinks that $100,000 over 15 months makes this guy wealthy needs to do some maths. That's just over £50,000 for just over a year's work. Then he'll need to deduct his agent's fee for getting him the job - that's generally about 15% - and if he has a manager, they'll take a cut as well. And when you finally get around to what's left after he's paid tax on the income, he's probably looking at a salary equivalent to about £25,000 for 15 months, which hardly makes him Mr Moneybags McSnooty. On top of which, that money may have to last for a long time, since there's no guarantee that his next job will pay anything like that amount.

    And besides, he's not complaining that the amount he was paid wasn't enough. His complaint is that actors get royalties for working in movies, TV and radio - but not for videogames. The industry can't keep crowing about how it makes more money than Hollywood and not expect these issues to rear up.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 10:04

  • el_pollo_diablo #31 4 years ago

    I think the guy's making a fair point actually.

    edit: just read what you wrote DanWhitehead, and agree totally.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 10:08

  • Meho #32 4 years ago

    Heh, could be, could be... Then again, R* are known for their satirical approach to most stereotypes, particularly politicaly incorrect ones, so who knows... Would love to hear this question asked in the interview.

    Also, to my knowledge, Niko is NOT explicitly identified as Serbian (however I haven't yet completed the game) so he could well be Croatian or whatever other ex-Yugoslav nationality, but I see that the general consensus is that he is Serbian: Yahtzee used the serbian national anthem as soundtrack for his GTA IV review and even our press had two major write-ups in two days speaking about the videogame Serb that goes around fake New York putting caps in people... At last the youth of my country has a role model that is internationally known.

    Also, sorry for going off-topic. As already stated in the article, the issues is with the Union, not with the employer, which is fair game. The time when voice actors will be recognised as major contributors to the games' success is probably somewhere in the rather distant future but again, how is it different than voicing a cartoon? And you can be damn sure that Sharon Stones, Woody Allens, Sly Stallones and other voice actors of the last decade or so don't work for a flat rate fee, but absolutely sign up for some of those sweet royalties later down the line... If games (at least some games) manage to develop the medium in the direction of even more cinematic presentation and feel, this is going to be an inevitable change in the business model.

  • bad09 #33 4 years ago

    Meho, it is mentioned that he is a serb at some point.

  • Bumhug360 #34 4 years ago

    "jesus the guy who played patrick mcreary got £500 a day and he's a total unknown?! on imdb it says he was in one episode of some tv show and that's his whole career. how did he manage £500 a day? "

    Its all down to this deal done 3 years ago

    [link url=http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2005/06/67803 ]http://ww w.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/...[/link]

    Which expires in 7 months time, so expect a strike some time soon and lots of games next year with a lack of talking

  • asphaltcowboy #35 4 years ago

    His complaint is that actors get royalties for working in movies, TV and radio - but not for videogames. The industry can't keep crowing about how it makes more money than Hollywood and not expect these issues to rear up.

    But, as has been said, that opens a whole Pandora's Box with regards to the actual developers getting paid more! redneon's edit pretty much covers it!

  • DrDamn #36 4 years ago

    @silver jon
    "I think he has a point, but it appears to be a bit crass complaining because of the game's success (which has little to do with his acting ability)."

    I think you kind of self answered at the end there. The games success is based primarily on the creative talents of the dev team, not him. I don't have a problem with royalties going to people based on the contribution to the success. As such he should maybe get an extra .50c.

  • napalm68 #37 4 years ago

    Man, my heart goes out to him. He has been immortalised and no royalties? Geez

  • Tiny_Tim #38 4 years ago

    That's a lot more than many of the people who worked on the game will get, and he's no more uniquely talented than them. I doubt he did many late nights either.

  • memeroot #39 4 years ago

    It would be nice if we all got the representation of a union...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #40 4 years ago

    Actors are largely incidental to videogames. Just look at the voice acting / game quality ratio in Resident Evil 4.

    I think the industry should stick to getting no-hopers glad for the work, or collecting samples from the dev team in silly voices, and fuck the moneygrabbing, unionised actor cunts.

  • Frumper #41 4 years ago

    I can't believe they paid Ryan Johnston USD 1,050 a day, for that shocking Irish accent!

  • kangarootoo #42 4 years ago

    @redneon

    I would be very surprised if the Rock* devs aren't getting paid royalties from GTAIV.

  • WrongShui #43 4 years ago

    In film, TV and radio actors sell the show.

    In games they don't.

  • Negotiator #44 4 years ago

    Actors are largely incidental to videogames.

    So how mon capitan would the story be told, do tell.

  • The-Bodybuilder #45 4 years ago

    Greedy Vulutre. He does realize that R* could've just got another actor, probably an actual eastern european, then paid him less.

  • The-Bodybuilder #46 4 years ago

    >"he is niko bellic"

    But he isn't though. The dvs; programmers, artists, and scriptwriters are niko bellic, and I would say the script is what makes niko, niko. The voice could've been done by any other unknown, and we would've been non the wiser.

  • The-Bodybuilder #47 4 years ago

    >"Apparently the guy who played the trumpet on the Coronation Street theme got paid about £40. And no royalties."

    That's quite sad and does make me re-evaluate my views.
    However, the composer of the theme should get the royalty, not the guy who played the trumpet. The composer was/is the actual creator and solely responsible for a memorable theme, the musician just played it out.
    Likely the creators of niko should get royalties, and the creators are composed of many people.

  • The-Bodybuilder #48 4 years ago

    @ Danwhitehead

    Ok, you've convinced me. I've changed my mind.

  • paulf #49 4 years ago

    @ the bodybuilder

    But he isn't though. The dvs; programmers, artists, and scriptwriters are niko bellic, and I would say the script is what makes niko, niko. The voice could've been done by any other unknown, and we would've been non the wiser.

    thats true but if he was a shit actor then the quality of the script wouldn't come through - my point was that those who give creative/technical input should share as much in the success as those who publish/market - that includes all the folks you mentioned

  • brinlarden #50 4 years ago

    that sucks £50 000 for 15 bloody months.
    i know voice acting cant be as hard as actualy programming ect. but still they made so much, would have atleast expected £150 000 for the leading man. greedy bastards.

  • cnlfailure #51 4 years ago

    He makes a fair point. He's providing the exact same service he would in other entertainment areas and getting paid differently.

    However My Lawyerman also makes a sound point in that the total environment of a game is the star of the show, not the session players.

    An interesting article.

  • MikeP #52 4 years ago

    He'll have an agent, and it's down to them to negotiate the best arrangement for him. It's simple, really. You have to abide by the rules and suck it up. If the games development industry doesn't pay royalties in the main and he demands them, they'll get someone else to be the vocal talent.

    Or, he could join the 95% of the professional acting community that have to supplement their income through other means of employment.




  • MGG #53 4 years ago

    10 years as a game programmer and I havent seen a single royalty cheque. In fact, of all my friends in the industry, I only know of one that has admitted to ever getting a royalty cheque - and he hung it on the wall for novelty factor rather than cashing it. The rich b'stard, imagine being able to live without that £15.

    This is one major reason why I no longer work for a traditional games company and I probably never will again. Co-ops/indie dev is the only way I am going in future. Its not helped when the owners of the company you work for spend their time bragging about how much money they are making, while you are slogging your guts out for less than industry average pay and almost no chance of royalties. As for completion bonuses, you have to fight for them a lot of the time too, and the biggest I ever had was £2k, the average one £500.

    As other people have said though, in games the voice talent is not what sell the games, unlike films, radio, music etc. Also, I believe we live in a free market - if he wasn't happy with the deal, he shouldn't have signed it. Thats roughly what I have decided to do - sick of being worked to death for average money while others get rich - so I got out and plan to stay out. I know get paid a good wage, in much less stressful conditions and much better working hours. C'est La Vie.

  • makeamazing #54 4 years ago

    Errm to the comments about his agent fee and taxes... no offence this guy wouldnt have worked 15 months straight on voice acting this game. Yes he might have been doing it OVER 15 months but not every day, every week or every month. The thing i really hate is that he could have said "No" or "I want more money"... but no, he took the job cause it sounded like a good deal at the time. I understand the royalty situation well as i write books, but voice acting is not the reason this game did well, it was the story, the concept the games design... sorry but too many people want to jump on the money train.

    On another note, i think the royalty situation is getting silly, everyone wants the money from the success, but remember someone has to take the risk... if the voice actor gets royalty then surely the programmers, designers, writers, testers, people who box the product etc etc should, its only fair. This will only make more expensive games even more prohibitive... and will make high budget games even more unlikely. Games production will not get any cheaper.

    I also think complaining about something after its been successful is pants, I guess if the game had sold 0 copies, he wouldnt be complaining.

    Shut up or put up and take the cheque, no arms were up his back to do the work!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #55 4 years ago

    @Me:
    Actors are largely incidental to videogames.

    @Negotiator
    So how mon capitan would the story be told, do tell.

    Have you played Zelda: Twilight Princess?

    If the Screen Actors Guild is going to get pissy about royalties, we can always got back to text.

  • Orange #56 4 years ago

    makeamazing, thanks for pointing that out. Seems some people saw the 15 months and assumed he was working full time in that period, which is laughable. He likely did most of the work in the span of >2 months, just spread out over 15 due to script / development changes.

    I see nothing to justify paying residuals to video game voice actors, it's a minimal creative role. Certainly for a voice actor to be paid royalties while programmers and the like are not would be a disgrace.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/08 @ 15:43

  • BBIAJ #57 4 years ago

    He obviously knows very little about Rockstar, Ray Liotta pissed them off when he moaned about money after Vice City hence the switch to unknown voice actors for GTA IV.

    I'd read that Sam Houser felt that when playing Vice City, he wasn't sure if he was playing as Tommy Vercetti, or Ray Liotta, and so the switch to lesser known voice actors for the lead/player characters as early San Andreas, and continuing into Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, and now with GTaIV (and of course Bully), was so that you might make a better connection with your in-game avatar, and the celebrity voices would be kept to side characters and cameos.

    I'm not disputing the fact that Liotta did mouth off, just that the reason for the change, as I understand it, is different.

  • captain-future #58 4 years ago

    He got over 1000 bucks per day, I think that's not bad and in the end I don't think it's wise to give everyone 0.00001% of the revenue of the game.

    Because what about designers, graphic-people, programmers etc.etc.etc....? You would open Pandora's Can of Worms with this kind of system.

    A trailer is not an ad! Ads generate revenue when aired and therefore you can get something on a per-view-basis but not with trailers or video games.