Metal Gear Solid spokesperson Jennifer Hale says she was paid $1,200 for the role of Naomi Hunter

Metal Gear Solid voice actress Jennifer Hale said she was paid $1,200 for her role as Naomi Hunter in the original 1998 game.

As discovered by Genki Twitterthe voice actress confirmed the amount on My perfect console Podcast as she shares her desire to become a video game voice actor to earn leftovers.

In a 2011 New Yorker article, Hale reportedly reported that Metal Gear Solid had grossed $270 million, although he said on the My Perfect Console podcast (published October 3, 2023): “The number that I heard it was actually $176 million.” While the exact profit is unclear, the original Metal Gear Solid sold more than seven million copies and is considered a monumental success, spawning a franchise that is still going strong 25 years later is successful.

Hale’s comments come just days after members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted to authorize a video game strike. This means that negotiators can call a strike if talks with video game companies do not produce the desired results, which they have not achieved so far.

The discrepancy between Hale’s alleged pay and the success of Metal Gear Solid is “indicative of what’s happening in modern culture,” she said, adding that she hopes the standard for those payments will change.

When asked what changes she would like to see, Hale said: “Residues for games on a flexible structure that honors the indie developers, that honors the teams’ budgets and capacity. I’d like to see that.” This would allow voice actors to earn money beyond their base rate if a game did particularly well, was widely distributed, etc.

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