Niko Bellic Actor Wants Respect, More Money
As with the writers, voice actors in games aren’t satisfied with the money they are getting from their work. Michael Hollick, the voice actor who portrayed Niko Bellic in GTA 4, blames his union for not getting enough money from his work.
According to a NY Times article, Hollick was paid around $100,000 for his voice acting and motion capture work on the game. However, he takes issue with the fact that he will not receive royalties from the game as he would get with other entertainment mediums, including radio, television and movies.
“The first GTA IV trailer generated something like 40 million hits online, and that’s my voice all over it, and I get nothing,” Hollick said. “If that were a radio spot, I would have. Same thing for the TV ads.”
He, however, is grateful to Rockstar for choosing him, noting that he was “just a nobody, an unknown quantity” before he portrayed Niko in the game.
“I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games.”
He hopes actors will get more respect (and money) for their work in videogames in the future.