Two English-speaking Voice Actors working on Genshin Impact, including Paimon’s actor Corina Boettger, claim on social media they have been waiting for months to get paid for their work.
On July 11, Brandon Winckler, a voice actor who worked on NPC lines claimed they had been waiting for over three months to get paid by a then-unnamed company, now revealed to be Formosa, the company tasked with handling voice-over for HoYoverse’s flagship title. This was all despite sending multiple reminders, they wrote..
“Inexcusable for us as actors to be waiting 4+ months for pay when you make $86 million per month,” they wrote in a tweet from July 13. “Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem. … Many non-union productions have this problem, I’ve waited anywhere from 4-8 months for payment.”
They added they would stop working on Genshin Impact unless it went under a union contract due to the late payments. The tweet gained much more attention when Paimon’s actor Corina Boettger spoke out about the same issue.
In a tweet from July 13, she revealed she was owed “thousands of dollars” by a big company, without naming HoYoverse, and was “struggling to pay rent because of this.” Fans quickly assumed she was referring to HoYoverse, considering the previous claims made by Brandon Winckler.
In an answer to her tweets, she also revealed she didn’t go recording for the last sessions because of those delays in payment.
Both Voice Actors aired their alleged struggles and asked the developer to unionize so the rights of employees were protected, as they felt powerless over the situation.
Related: Sega of America workers form biggest cross-department video game union in the U.S.
While they work on Genshin Impact‘s characters, English voice actors are contractually tied with Formosa and not directly with HoYoverse. It means the developer isn’t the one delaying payments—but they claim it would have enough influence to put pressure on Formosa in paying their voice actors on time.
Genshin Impact fans offered their support to those voice actors on social media. The game’s latest official tweets are all cluttered with comments from users begging HoYoverse to pay their English Voice Actors, to unionize, and to hire them directly in the company.
Those claims were shared amid a historic double strike that is going to hit the Hollywood industry, led by the Writers Guild of America since May, and soon by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
Many English Voice Artists working on Genshin Impact have started a conversation about unions in the entertainment industry by sharing the news. HoYoverse has yet to react to those claims, however.
Dot Esports has reached out to Winckler and Boettger, and received a comment from HoYoverse via a PR representative.
“Genshin Impact values and respects the work and effort of everyone involved, and support[s] voice actors to claim their proper due.” It claims it has paid the recording studio on time and “have immediately urged the studio to pay voice actors.” It is also “seeking alternative solutions [and] will keep everyone posted on further developments.”
Updated July 14, 6:50am CT: added comments from HoYoverse.
Published: Jul 14, 2023 06:50 am