What Introducing the Pixel Pack

In mid-December, two Indiana Joneses met on stage at the Game Awards in Los Angeles, an annual event celebrating excellence in video games that has become a highlight of the industry’s awards season.  If the BAFTA Games Awards are like the Oscars, they combine the excitement of the Super Bowl with the fun of the Golden Globes (in terms of the sheer number of trailers shown during the livestream). The entire auditorium at the Peacock Theater rose in a standing ovation when a surprise guest emerged.  Harrison Ford slowly took his place next to presenter Troy Baker, the actor who portrayed Ford himself — specifically, the 1980s version of Ford's Indy.  Baker channeled the Hollywood icon with a spot-on vocal and performance-capture act for the fast-selling 2024 adventure game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade films.
 Baker tells Entertainment Weekly in February, a few months later, "It's a fever dream." "We knew that it would have been wonderful for Harrison to give us the thumbs up in some way." In typical Ford fashion, though, Baker remembers "having no idea what that man was going to say," noting, "He waved off the teleprompter and just riffed."  But Ford graciously quipped to Baker in an aside, "I think this guy did a great job.  If I'd known he was so good, I would've done it myself."
 "I was like, 'That's all I need to hear, man,'" Baker says. Altamaha-ha boss, a live-action music video, and how the song influences the game are revealed in South of Midnight (exclusive). The moment seemed to represent the current state of gaming. Propelled by years of advancements with realistic animation and an emphasis on storytelling, gaming now stands side by side with movies and TV as an engine for narrative-driven cinematic experiences.  Baker is one of many actors at the forefront of the medium. He is an A-lister in his own right for playing some of the most well-known characters in video games, like Joel in The Last of Us and Booker DeWitt in BioShock. Erika Ishii considers herself "a beneficiary of that movement" that began with people like Baker and saw her own breakthroughs as Valkyrie in Apex Legends and as the lead actress in the Ghost of Tsushima sequel, Ghost of Ytei, which was recently announced. Gaming, as a business, now rivals — and even outpaces — other entertainment sectors on paper, including Hollywood.  According to the Entertainment Software Association, Circana, and Sensor Tower, game sales reached $58.7 billion in 2024, compared to an estimated $30 billion from the global box office in the same period (Gower Street Analytics). A 2019 Netflix earnings report stated the company's feelings on the matter very clearly: In terms of consumers' attention, "we compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO."  And now even Netflix is in the gaming business. 
 "To me, one of the reasons why video games have continued to flood into the collective common consciousness and the zeitgeist is because they are in every way where the arrow has been pointing for storytelling since we began drawing on cave walls… How can I best tell you my story?  How can I best let you know you had to have been there?"  Baker muses on the matter.  "The thing that games do that none of those mediums do is they really make you the agent.  You are the one who's driving." Neil Newbon is another big name, propelled by his turn as the frisky vampiric rogue Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, which earned him a BAFTA nomination and a Game Awards win in 2024.  He's now trying to take actors involved in gaming to the next level.  On Dec.  11, Newbon assembled 17 of his fellow stars at studio Loft 1923 in Los Angeles: Baker, Abubakar Salim (Bayek in Assassin’s Creed), Alix Wilton Regan (the "Female Inquisitor" of Dragon Age: Inquisition), performance-capture artist Andi Norris (Donna Benviento in Resident Evil Village), Anjali Bhimani (Symmetra in Overwatch, Rampart in Apex Legends), Ben Starr (Clive in Final Fantasy XVI), Bryan Dechart (Connor in Detroit: Become Human), Fred Tatasciore (Bane in Batman: Arkham Shadow), Maggie Robertson (Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village, Orin the Red in Baldur’s Gate 3), Matthew Mercer (Leon S.  Kennedy in Resident Evil 6, Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), Melina Juergens (newly minted Game Award winner for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II), Melanie Liburd (Saga Anderson in Alan Wake II), Nick Apostolides (Leon in Resident Evil 2 and 4), Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II), Sam Lake (Alex Casey in Alan Wake II, the creative director of Remedy Entertainment), and Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man).  Together, they executed an ambitious photo shoot with photographer Ivan Weiss, the kind of glossy magazine-style spread typically reserved for their colleagues on the film and television side.  Two other shoots followed at later dates around the world: one in New York City with Ishii and Noshir Dalal (Charles Smith in Red Dead Redemption II, Bode Akuna in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), and one in London with 11 others.  Those in the U.K. included Ace Ruele (a founder of Creature Bionics), David Menkin (Luke Skywalker of Lego Star Wars, Dag Nithisson in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla), Devora Wilde (Lae'zel in Baldur’s Gate 3), Díana Bermudez (the Guardian in Baldur’s Gate 3), Doug Cockle (Geralt of The Witcher), BAFTA winner Jane Perry (Diana Burnwood in Hitman, Selene in Returnal), Jennifer English (Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, Lantenna in Elden Ring), Jennifer Hale (Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Rivet in Ratched and Clank: Rift Apart), Joseph Balderrama (Cody in It Takes Two), Luisa Guerreiro (Caroline Scott-Kenway in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag), and BAFTA-nominated Samantha Béart (Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3).  The Pixel Pack is now launched by the final group shot, a composite of the three locations' images. It's what Newbon and co. are calling this collective of actors redefining the role of talent in the gaming business.  At a time when SAG-AFTRA's "Interactive Media (Video Game) Strike" continues the fight for better workplace protections, including from A.I. replacements, the Pixel Pack seeks to remind everyone of a simple truth: The actors within the gaming sector are indeed actors, and they are pushing for recognition and respect as artists.