It appears that some voice actors working on Genshin Impact haven’t been paid for months. But neither the recording studio responsible for the game’s English dubbing nor developer miHoYo reacted to the situation.
UPD (June 14): HoYoverse told GamesRadar+ that it had made payments to the recording studio on time, so the company is now seeking alternative solutions to solve the problem: “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 have immediately urged the studio to pay our voice actors. Meanwhile, we are also seeking alternative solutions. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.”
On July 12, a ResetEra user spotted several tweets from two voice actors who have worked with miHoYo — Brandon Winckler and Corina Boettger. The latter is the English dub voice of Paimon, a character that became the mascot of Genshin Impact.
Both actors didn’t initially call out the game or its developer directly, but the context of their tweets specifically implied that it was all about Genshin Impact.
Winckler claimed that they have been “waiting 3+ months for payment for literally the biggest video game project out there.” The actor then revealed that this is regarding Genshin Impact, calling the whole situation “inexcusable.”
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
Boettger noted that they didn’t receive payment for work that was recorded back in December 2022. “Kind of ridiculous how I am struggling to pay rent because this studio on this big project hasn’t been paying me for my work,” the actress wrote, calling for unionization in video games.
According to Boettger, they are owed thousands of dollars.
I have been working for months that have gone unpaid. This is unacceptable AND THAT’S WHY WE NEED VIDEO GAMES TO BE UNION. ACTORS NEED TO BE PROTECTED.
— Zulu & Lima (Corina, digi-destined) (@thebirdzulu) July 12, 2023
“It’s really hard to justify working on something for the sake of work when you can’t afford to eat,” Winckler said, adding that “many non-union productions have this problem.” The actor stated that they won’t work on Genshin Impact anymore unless it goes under a union contract.
I can only speak for myself but I build my budget months in advance trying to accommodate this, and not be a pain. Because I love to act, I love working on the games/shows these studios work on. A game like this WITHOUT A DOUBT, should be a union production. (3/4)
— Brandon Winckler (@BWincklerVA) July 13, 2023
However, it is unclear who is to blame for the payment issue. Genshin Impact developer miHoYo and its global label HoYoverse don’t make voiceovers for all languages themselves, so they partner with other recording studios specializing in such work.
In a follow-up tweet, Winckler called out Formosa Group, a US production company responsible for the English voice recording for Genshin Impact: “I’ve asked and emailed and called and everything else that is in my power as an actor to do with Formosa — and received little/no response.”
I’m not at that place yet. I have bills. Los Angeles is pricey. I’m not sure how other actors are being treated, but I speak only for myself. I’m well aware of what this could do to my relationship with the studio and client, but I gotta live. Union or bust for me going forward.
— Brandon Winckler (@BWincklerVA) July 13, 2023
It is unclear how many Genshin Impact voice actors haven’t been paid, but Boettger said, “I can’t speak for other people, but we are not the only ones.”
Users and fellow voice actors stood up for Boettger and Winckler. Kyle McCarley, who worked on NieR Automata, Fire Emblem, and other games, stated that Genshin Impact “should be produced on a union contract,” adding that the cast had “cast had to fight for over a year just to get a [two-hour minimum rate].”
BTW: A 2 hour minimum was so standard for non-u when this game started, most of the cast didn’t know they didn’t have one until they got paid less than they were expecting for a session. Because this game got away with it, it’s a fight for non-u projects at multiple studios now.
— Kyle McCarley ✊ (@KyleMcCarley) July 13, 2023
Last year, there was a controversy surrounding Bayonetta 3 and voice actress Hellena Taylor. This led to discussions on low rates for actors working on video games. While they can work individually or be represented by the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), most of them are usually paid for sessions at the standard minimum rate of $902 for one four-hour session (as of 2020).