In the first episode of The Last of Us playthrough, Retro Replay's hosts Troy Baker (Joel) and Nolan North (David) are joined by Hana Hayes who plays the role of Joel's daughter Sarah. Together, they look back at the recording process of the game’s emotional opening scene. Baker and Hayes talk about having to reshoot the scene multiple times and about Neil Druckmann’s approach to directing. The viewers also learn about a disagreement between the developers and the publisher about the pacing of the game’s prologue.
We provide a quantitative overview of these channels and their viewership numbers as well as qualitative analysis of their individual approaches to "definitive playthrough video". What distinguishes this new genre from general variety streaming is the exclusive access to production trivia and an authorial interpretation of games. Due to their involvement in game production, actors can claim to have a unique perspective that sets them apart from other content creators. While actors are adopting the formats and practices of streaming culture, they are using streaming to highlight their individual artistic achievements, and also to teach production literacy to their audiences. This requires a great deal of relational labor on the part of actors and balancing of multiple careers. Although "definitive playthrough videos" rarely challenge corporate behind-the-scenes narratives and the magic of game making and therefore serve as promotion, they give the actors the opportunity to advocate for the importance of their profession which can harnessed in labor disputes such as the SAG-AFTRA 2016-17 strike, which we explored in our previous article on voice acting Recasting Life Is Strange: Video Game Voice Acting during the 2016–2017 SAG-AFTRA Strike. Furthermore, streaming culture gives platform to actors whose position in the game industry is often seen as marginal compared to other game development roles.
Our analysis shows that some voice actors qualify as above-the-line talent partly thanks to their strong identification with popular in-game characters, which is often strengthened by appearance of actors in official promotional videos (such as the one embedded below). Actors in supporting roles try to rise above the figurative line by engaging in relational labor (livestreaming, cosplaying, and connecting with fans), highlighting their involvement in the game to compensate for precarious working conditions and contingent employment. During the strike, the above-the-line status and relational labor could be used to mobilize support for the union something that other more central but less visible professions in the video game industry might not be able to do. While not all SAG-AFTRA's demands were met, the recasting drew attention to voice acting and reignited the interest in organized labor action We conclude that the struggle for better working conditions calls for solidarity between above-the-line and below-the-line workers, as well as between core and peripheral professions.
