"Time to expect the worst": Genshin Impact fans worried about VAs as SAG-AFTRA reportedly rejected the "best and final offer" from companies

The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike that has attracted the attention of millions of video game enthusiasts globally has recently had an interesting development. In the second week of May, SAG-AFTRA received a "last, best, and final" offer from the video game companies, aiming to bring the strike to a close. However, this offer was reportedly declined by SAG-AFTRA, leading to a fresh wave of criticism from the gaming community and voice actors alike.

On May 28, 2025, SAG-AFTRA held a livestream on their Instagram account, hosted by Sarah Elmaleh (Chair for the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee) and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA). In this livestream, Sarah and Duncan talked in detail about the ongoing strike, as well as the negotiations currently in process. It was in this livestream where they talked about not being able to accept the video game companies' final offer.

This development soon made its way to r/GenshinImpact, where a link to the SAG-AFTRA Instagram Q&A livestream was also shared. Needless to say, SAG-AFTRA's decision came as a disappointment to the majority of the playerbase. Reacting to this incident, u/SplendidSeaSalt said:

"Time to expect the worst."

This is now the main sentiment amongst the gaming community, who feel that this prolonged strike is adversely affecting the entire video game industry. Several English voice actors working on HoYoverse games like Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero have now been replaced, and fans are worried that if the strike doesn't come to an end soon, more VAs might get recast in the future.

Comment byu/siriuslupin65 from discussion inGenshin_Impact

u/ZeroFox75 mentioned that this development might be really bad news for the EN VAs, and also brought up the fact that many innocent voice actors who might not even have had a say in the strike were also caught in the crossfire. This had already previously been confirmed by Genshin Impact Venti's EN VA Erika Harlacher-Stone, who said that 'the strike had sucked, and that they hadn't even voted on it'.

Certain English voice actors have also spoken up about the gaming companies' "last, best, and final" offer, saying that all members should be allowed to vote on it. One such prominent VA is Chris Tergliafera — the voice of Capitano in Genshin Impact — who made a post on X saying that they should be allowed to vote to end the strike. Chris also made a similar comment on the recently held SAG-AFTRA Instagram Q&A livestream, where he said "Let us Vote".

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How has the SAG-AFTRA strike affected Genshin Impact?

Multiple main characters in Genshin Impact have been on mute for quite some time (Image via HoYoverse)

For quite some time now, many Genshin Impact EN VAs have been withholding work because of the strike, leading to a multitude of characters remaining unvoiced for major quests. So far, the only voice actor to have been recast is Kinich's original EN VA John Patneaude, who was replaced by Jacob Takanashi.

Meanwhile, Venti's EN voice actor Erika Harlacher-Stone has expressed her desire to end the strike, mentioning that SAG-AFTRA had been sending her threatening letters, and that she was sick of whatever was happening.

It now remains to be seen if SAG-AFTRA can actually reach a deal with the video gaming companies and end the strike, or if HoYoverse will have no choice but to replace other English voice actors affiliated with SAG-AFTRA in the coming months.

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