After reports of Genshin Impact voice actors not being paid for their work, HoYoverse addressed the issue and is working on a resolution.
A few days ago, Genshin Impact English VAs including Corina Boettger and Brandon Winckler said via their personal Twitter accounts that they are still owed payments for their voice recordings in the game.
This became a major topic among Genshin Impact players and on Twitter as a whole given that it coincides with the ongoing Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes which are centered on proper compensation to entertainment industry professionals.
Again… been working for MONTHS unpaid on a BIG project for a studio. I am owed THOUSANDS of dollars. I am struggling currently to pay rent because of this. This project has made BILLIONS. This project should be Union.
— Zulu & Lima (Corina, digi-destined) (@thebirdzulu) July 13, 2023
After a fifth email with no response, This is regarding Genshin Impact. Inexcusable for us as actors to be waiting 4+ months for pay when you make $86 million per month. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem- (thread) https://t.co/BPBW3WibG9
— Brandon Winckler (@BWincklerVA) July 13, 2023
Soon though, publisher HoYoverse shared a statement to Video Games by SI, saying that they “regret to learn about the ongoing situation” and that they are “seeking alternative solutions”
The full statement reads:
“We truly regret to learn about the ongoing situation. Genshin Impact values and respects the work and effort of everyone involved, and we support our voice actors to claim their proper due. We have made payments to our recording studio on time, and we immediately urged the studio to pay our voice actors from our past payment. Meanwhile, we are also seeking alternative solutions. And we will keep you posted on further developments.”
Following the statement from HoYoverse, Boettger and Winckler shared on Twitter that they have acknowledged the steps being taken by HoYoverse. Though it is unclear if the publisher has now reached out to all voice actors that are affected.
I have finally gotten word that things are being fixed. Thank you everyone.
— Zulu & Lima (Corina, digi-destined) (@thebirdzulu) July 14, 2023
I want to thank Mihoyo for moving so quickly on this. I haven’t heard anything personally, but I’m glad steps are being taken to make things right. I’m really sorry it came to this and it had to blow up like it did. I’m not sure if folks would have been made aware if not.
— Brandon Winckler (@BWincklerVA) July 14, 2023
Based on these developments, fans theorize that this isn’t the case of HoYoverse withholding payments for some Genshin Impact cast members (as per their statement), but it might be attributed to the third-party that was hired to manage the English dub voice recordings for the game.
Whatever the case may be, it’s good that HoYoverse has finally addressed the issue. Though this has also spurred on more discussions about video game voice acting gigs needing to be unionized so that this payment issue does not happen again.
Source: Video Games by SI