# The video game performers' agreement adds consent rules for digital replicas

> A recording session can now lead to a replica used to make material the performer never directly recorded.

Published 2026-11-08

Canonical: https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/game-performer-digital-replica-consent/

A game studio can hire a performer to record dialogue, or use a digital replica to generate new material based on a performance. The 2025 SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement adds disclosure and consent rules for covered uses of AI replicas. The union says performers can also suspend consent for generating new material during a strike.

::image{
  src="assets/game-performer-digital-replica-consent/elmaleh-portrait.jpg"
  layout="inline"
  alt="Video game performer Sarah Elmaleh speaks into a microphone at the IndieCade Showcase."
  caption="Sarah Elmaleh at the IndieCade Showcase at E3 2019. Elmaleh chaired SAG-AFTRA’s interactive media negotiating committee during the video game strike."
  credit="IndieCade, CC BY 3.0. Cropped from an interview still."
}

[Image source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IndieCade_Alumni_Interview_-_Sarah_Elmaleh_%28cropped%29.jpg) · [Reuse terms](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

The agreement ended a video game strike after members ratified it. The union lists the replica provisions alongside changes to compensation and safety. The protections apply through the contract and its covered work.

For players, a line of dialogue might sound much the same whether a person recorded it for that scene or a system produced it later. For the performer and studio, the agreement makes the difference a matter of what was disclosed and what use the performer agreed to.

[Read the source](https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/interactive/2025-interactive-media-video-game-agreement).
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