The voice actor of Niko from Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 was only paid $100,000 to do his acting. You might think it is a lot, but over the period of time they were making the game it isn't that much.
Voice actor Michael Hollick was paid £100,000 for his fifteen-month stint as Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Hollick, who was an unknown quantity before the game's blockbuster success, has mixed opinions on whether or not he was given a reasonable amount for his role in the biggest entertainment product of all time.
"Obviously I'm incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity," he said last week according to the New York Times.
"But it's tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they're making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don't see any of it.
"I don't blame Rockstar," he was quick to add. "I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games. Yes, the technology is important, but it's the human performances within them that people really connect to, and I hope actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies."
In most other mediums, Hollick would have been paid royalties for his voice appearing in the product. He said that he "asked about residuals when we negotiated, but I was told that was not a possibility."
The issue is further clouded by the inclusion of his voice in other media outlets advertising the game, including television, film, radio and the internet.
Unsurprisingly, other voice-actors in the game earned significantly less than Hollick. Ryan Johnston, who played Patrick McReary, said that he was paid $1,050 a day.
It must be terrible to earn $1,000 a day.
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At the same time though, I don't think he did a very good job as Niko. His Bosnian sounds like absolute SHIT (It's my first language yet I can't even understand things he says in it) and he did a bad job with faking an accent. =/
Still for the amount of success this game has had its peanuts
They said in the movie business, he would be possibly making millions. But voicing Niko in GTAIV only netted him $100k over 15 months, which is nothing nowadays.
I think as video games get more and more cinematic, voice actors will be paid more. Video games in a few years will feel like interactive movies. (some already do)
He actually worked for less 1/3rd of that time. It would take a high school teacher nearly 3 years to make as much as he did for less than 5 months work. Assuming 8 hours days, he got like $130 an hour. He was very well paid, above scale for his profession.
Think about the musicians who perform all the songs on, say, a Michael Jackson or Garth Brooks album that sells 20+ million copies. Do they get rich? No. They get paid a flat fee for the gig. Why? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T THE REASON PEOPLE ARE BUYING THE ALBUMS.
Nobody bought Mariah's latest album because Mary Ann Tatum sang backing vocals on it. Nobody bought GTA IV because they knew Michael Hollick was going to be in it.
"They said in the movie business, he would be possibly making millions."
*lol* Yes, if he was a famous actor, he could be making millions, but he's not!
That's like me going to my boss today and saying, "Hey, Brian, I know my wage is fair, but IF I WAS BILL GATES I would be getting millions. Pay me as if I was him. Thanks."
"I think as video games get more and more cinematic, voice actors will be paid more. Video games in a few years will feel like interactive movies. (some already do)"
Voice actors will get fat paychecks and/or royalties when people start buying games because they are in it, if that ever happens. Guys like Will Smith or Jack Black get paid millions because HAVING THEM IN THE MOVIE SELLS TICKETS. People pay to see them. The majority of actors in any given film are not given royalties, and do not make millions.
Until such a day that people buy games because they have Michael Hollick in them, he'll be a union worker getting paid his union wage, just like the majority of musicians and actors.
Sucks for him. He must be at least upset.
He was clearly happy enough with the pay to sign on for the job so he shouldn't be bitching now that the game is a huge success.
I bet he worked fulltime throghout the period, and just came into the rockstar periodically when they were finished with a section and needed for niko to say some lines... if anything $100,000 is a good and even sum. He could buy a very very nice car for that price, or take an entire year or two off of working, or even invest/ save for retirement. That guy got a hell of a sweet deal, but still interesting to know just how much the voices of blockbuster games get paid.
Plus, gta costs like 7-10 times more than the average movie ticket, depending on where your from so its unfair to not consider movies.
o the humanity