Wedbush's Pachter Weighs In on the Video Game Industry

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00:00So let's start with this deal. I didn't even realize they were still on strike. And this

00:03actually goes back even further than just when they went on strike back in July. Give us a sense

00:08here as to what was actually being hashed out here. The general idea was that the actors were

00:13uncomfortable with the idea that video game developers were leaning a little bit more heavily

00:18on AI for work that would traditionally go to human beings. Yeah. And, you know, it happened,

00:24obviously, in Hollywood with film as well. And I think people understand that, you know,

00:30replacing an actor in a film with a CGI image is easy to do. Games are all CGI images. So

00:38what really happened here is the voice actors who do what's called cut scenes. They do the

00:44part of the game between levels of the game where they kind of give you the transition

00:48where you're going and why you're going there. They were really worried that their voices were

00:53going to be programmed. And, you know, probably the most famous game that has cut scenes is Grand

00:59Theft Auto. You'll see in the next one that you're going to go from a mission in Miami Beach to a

01:05mission in the Everglades to a mission that they call the state Leonida, but North Florida,

01:10they have to get you there. And so the actors set the tone. You get the bosses telling the underlings

01:15what to do. And it really is acting. It's interesting to me because I've actually talked to a whole bunch

01:22of developers about their favorite part of making video games. And they said, directing the voice

01:27actors. They get to work with real professionals and get them to, you know, have the emotion that

01:32they're looking for in the game. Those people, SAG-AFTRA members, were worried that they were going

01:37to be replaced by AI. And rightfully so. I think the games industry was behind the movie industry

01:43and didn't realize how important those people are to making high quality games and how little they cost

01:49in the scheme of things. Because these actors make $5,000, $10,000, you know, for a piece of

01:54work. And a game costs literally upwards of $100 million. Grand Theft Auto, over a billion to make.

02:02Who cares about paying 20 or 30 people $10,000? Well, the actors care very much. The game companies

02:07gave in. All right. So what does that mean for the actual gamers? Like, how much does it wind up

02:12hurting them or not? Gamers, I think, are just going to get a better experience. So, you know,

02:18there's a fine line between realistic and too realistic. You know, some of these games are

02:24pretty violent. And sometimes it really does feel like you're killing somebody. You know, I played a

02:30game called Fallout. I loved, I actually loved the perk where I could shoot at a ghoul's head and it

02:37would explode. But now they're making the ghouls Walton Goggins. You know, he's in the TV show.

02:43He might be in the next Fallout game. You know, they have Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk. I don't know

02:48if I want to shoot Keanu Reeves. Norman Reedus in Death Stranding. He's the guy from The Walking

02:54Dead. You know, so I don't know. It gets too real sometimes. But if the main character, the good guy,

03:01has a voice that you recognize, that you trust. What's his name? Kiefer Sutherland did the voiceover

03:07of the main sergeant in Call of Duty. That adds a lot of value. And the number one download in the

03:132000 aughts for any game was Snoop Dogg doing the voiceover for Call of Duty. People love

03:20something familiar. That's why we have actors doing commercials.

03:24Well, that's what I'm curious about, too, about how this evolves. Because we kind of forget that

03:27some of these voice actors, and I'm just talking about the big celebrities, have become celebrities in

03:30their own right. And I'm curious, is there going to be space for that unknown person to voice

03:36something like this and basically elevate themselves? Or is it now just going to be the

03:40Snoop Doggs, the Kiefer Sutherland, et cetera, Keanu Reeves, if you will, Walter Goggins of the world,

03:45and AI? You know, that's a great question. Everybody can't, you know, be Snoop Dogg, and not every game

03:54can afford Snoop Dogg. So there's always room for just really good actors. And I think it's going to be

04:00similar to commercials, television commercials. The voice actors in most of them are nobodies, except

04:06they're talented, and they actually can sell you the product. And I think that's what you're going to get

04:11mostly in video games. Occasionally, they want that voice you can trust, you know, so it'll be the

04:17voiceover in State Farm or something will be an actor that you recognize. But no, I think that there's plenty

04:23of room. And again, there are people who make a living doing voices in games. The other aspect of this

04:28was motion capture. And those people are supremely talented. Essentially, they're stuntmen doing the

04:34physical actions. And the guys like in Madden NFL, you want your player to look like an NFL player.

04:40They hire ex-NFL and NCAA players to be those people. Yes. Michael, it's a hard break. Gotta

04:46leave it there. Really appreciate it. Always good to see you.

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