The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced on Tuesday that it has added Riot Games’ “League of Legends” to the list of struck games. This means that the union voice actors currently working on the game are required to stop. Additionally, SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against sound company Formosa Interactive, alleging that they attempted to circumvent the ongoing strike.

Over 2,500 video game performers went on strike in late July after nearly two years of negotiations with major video game companies. The main sticking point in the negotiations appears to be related to artificial intelligence protections, but the “League of Legends” strike is not connected to AI. Instead, SAG-AFTRA alleged in a news release that Formosa Interactive tried to “cancel” one of its struck video games shortly after the start of the video game strike and then attempted to transfer the game to a “shell company” to hire non-union actors.

In the unfair labor charge obtained by Polygon from a SAG-AFTRA representative, it was detailed that Formosa transferred work to a company called Formosa Ocean Post, which is not signed to the Interactive Media Agreement. Both Formosa Interactive, LLC and Formosa Ocean Post have the same mailing address in California’s business directory. Formosa Interactive was registered in 2013, while Formosa Ocean Post was registered in 2014. In addition to labeling the casting notices as “non-union”, SAG-AFTRA alleged that Formosa Interactive required overly broad confidentiality provisions in these notices.

Riot Games, which develops “League of Legends”, is not involved in the dispute. A SAG-AFTRA representative stated in the news release that these actions are serious violations of labor law, as employers cannot interfere with performers’ rights to form or join a union or discriminate against union performers. The unilateral and surreptitious transfer of union work to a “non-union shell company” is an attempt to evade a strike action and destroy performers’ rights under the law.

So, how does “League of Legends” fit into this? “League of Legends” is developed and published by Riot Games, but it outsources its voiceover work to Formosa Interactive, like many other major companies. Games such as “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, “Helldivers 2”, “God of War: Ragnarok”, “Dead Space”, “Death Stranding”, and “The Last of Us Part 2” were handled by Formosa Interactive for voiceover or sound design work. “League of Legends” is one of Formosa Interactive’s biggest ongoing games and was not previously struck. Ongoing, live service games that started production before August 25 were still allowed for video game performers to work on, as well as games by companies that independently signed the updated Interactive Media Agreement. “League of Legends”, which was released before August 25, was still a viable option until Tuesday.

Riot Games is not directly involved in the dispute, except for its reliance on Formosa Interactive for voiceovers. Instead, “League of Legends” was chosen to be struck as one of Formosa Interactive’s biggest clients and a game that is likely still hiring voice actors. Similar to the rest of the industry, the strike will not immediately affect “League of Legends”; game production is planned well in advance of release. However, “League of Legends” is a game that regularly receives updates with new character voice lines and cinematics, and the strike could potentially impact cinematics or voiced skins in the future.

A “League of Legends” representative provided the following statement to Polygon: “League of Legends has nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA’s press release. We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only asked Formosa to engage with Union performers in the US and has never once suggested doing otherwise. In addition, we’ve never asked Formosa to cancel a game that we’ve registered. All of the allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release relating to canceling a game or hiring non-union talent relate to a non-Riot game and have nothing to do with League or any of our games.”

It is notable that the 2024 League of Legends World Championship is scheduled to start on Wednesday. “League of Legends” Worlds are the pinnacle of the game’s esports scene and will span London, Paris, and Berlin over more than a month. Voice actors are rarely involved in the event, but if any plans were made to include them, the actors would not be able to participate due to the strike rules.

Polygon has reached out to SAG-AFTRA, Formosa Interactive, and Riot Games for more information. An update to the story has been included to provide details from SAG-AFTRA’s unfair labor charge and a statement from Riot Games.