Voice actor Samantha Kelly discovered her 18-year tenure as Super Mario characters Princess Peach and Toad was over on the day that Mario Kart World was released — without her in it.
Companies neglecting to tell existing voice talent with years of experience playing specific characters that they’re being replaced is actually fairly common. With how clearly Nintendo DGAF about anyone lately it’s not surprising at all. They may not have planned to tell her at all officially and someone took it upon themselves when they found out shortly before launch.
Many/Most companies view voice talent as completely expendable and replaceable. For camera talent, you have the person’s image as well, but with voice talent, in most cases people won’t notice the actor being replaced. Especially since vocal impersonation is so common.
Lots of stretches there. Voice talent is more replaceable than on-camera talent, but not “completely expendable”.
I’m calling that a good thing. Having a working relationship with an actor is a thing, and I fully support good working conditions for VAs, but not being held to actors being the go/no-go talent for a whole project at all times is a noticeable improvement over the film industry, as far as I’m concerned.
Plus it’s such an anglocentric world, where English-speaking actors are the only ones that get work and a leg to stand on when it comes to negotiation. That entire business is VERY weird in gaming and it has a lot more nuance than a lot of people, particularly in the English-speaking world will give it credit for.
Companies neglecting to tell existing voice talent with years of experience playing specific characters that they’re being replaced is actually fairly common. With how clearly Nintendo DGAF about anyone lately it’s not surprising at all. They may not have planned to tell her at all officially and someone took it upon themselves when they found out shortly before launch.
Many/Most companies view voice talent as completely expendable and replaceable. For camera talent, you have the person’s image as well, but with voice talent, in most cases people won’t notice the actor being replaced. Especially since vocal impersonation is so common.
Lots of stretches there. Voice talent is more replaceable than on-camera talent, but not “completely expendable”.
I’m calling that a good thing. Having a working relationship with an actor is a thing, and I fully support good working conditions for VAs, but not being held to actors being the go/no-go talent for a whole project at all times is a noticeable improvement over the film industry, as far as I’m concerned.
Plus it’s such an anglocentric world, where English-speaking actors are the only ones that get work and a leg to stand on when it comes to negotiation. That entire business is VERY weird in gaming and it has a lot more nuance than a lot of people, particularly in the English-speaking world will give it credit for.