Residuals? What's that? (Rockstar Games)

San Diego,

The voice-over actor for the widely popular game Grand Theft Auto 4 is looking to get some residuals after the game's gigantic success. He was paid $100 thousand for 15 months of work, and the game went on to make $600 million, and he won't get a dime of it. The actor, Niko Bellic, is upset that the union does not cover actors in the digital media, and wants to see this changed. Niko Bellic said, "the first GTA 4 trailer generated something like 40 million hits online, and that's my voice all over it, and I get nothing. If that were a radio spot, I would have. Same thing for the TV ads. I recorded those lines for the game, but now they're all over television."

His complaint is understandable, and the impact on the gaming industry could be huge, with companies losing some of that revenue. Could this also signal a change in public understanding of video games, that it's on the same level as movies and television shows?

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