Niko's Salary

I just read an article on the New York Times website (www.nytimes.com) which revealed Niko Bellic's salary. Well, not really Niko, but the actor who portrayed him, Michael Hollick. Apparently, Hollick was payed around $100,000 over a period of fifteen months for his voice-acting work in Grand Theft Auto IV, with no royalties. Keep in mind the game grossed over $600 million. The reason for this "meager" pay is due to the lack of provisons concerning electronic media between the actors' union and the entertainment industry.

Now, critical thinking...

Do you think Hollick deserved at least a seven-figure paycheck for his work? Do you think it's unfair that actors in movies are guaranteed millions while actors in video games are left out in the rain?

Here's my take:

A seven-figure paycheck for anything save curing cancer or ending world hunger is undeserved. Period. If someone offered me $100,000 to talk into a microphone, I'd consider myself blessed, considering it took me months to save up for a $400 PS3 off of my meager $7.50/hour salary at Domino's.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Voice acting has little to nothing to do with why people buy videogames. Theres MAYBE 3 or 4 people (his family) out there that bought this game because of Michael Hollick. The people who deserve those 7 figure salaries and fat residual checks are the actual developers. They are the ones putting in 80hr work weeks and pouring every last creative juice they have into these things.

While actors bring movies to life, more than anything else, in games it's the developers that do all the important stuff. Niko isn't just the voice actor. It's also the computer model and the animations. I think the voice actor should have had some royalties, but the developers are the most important factor in games, not voice actors. That's one difference with the movie industry.11Marcel