Bayonetta Voice Actor Asks Fans to Boycott Game After Being Offered Only $4,000 to Reprise Her Role
Hellena Taylor, the voice actor behind the titular character in the first two Bayonetta games, shares the reason for why she didn’t return for the 3rd installment in the series.
Friends, Worldlings, Bayonutters. Hear ye!#PlatinumGames #Nintendo #Bayonetta #Bayonetta3 #Bayonutters #Boycott #NintendoEurope #NintendoAmerica #NintendoJapan pic.twitter.com/h9lwiX2bBt
— Hellena Taylor (@hellenataylor) October 15, 2022
In a series of 4 videos shared on Twitter, Hellena Taylor expressed her frustration on Twitter almost a year after Bayonetta 3 was officially revealed during a Nintendo Direct.
“I would like to explain why I didn’t voice Bayonetta 3. The Bayonetta franchise made an approximated $450 million dollars not including merchandise…What did they offer to pay me? The final offer to do the whole game…was $4,000 USD”
She also calls out Platinum for claiming that they weren’t able to hire her due to scheduling conflicts earlier this month as fans were still looking to find answers as to why the actor wasn’t returning.
“Platinum had the cheek to say that I was busy, that they couldn’t make it work…well I had nothing but time.”
In an interview with Game Informer, the game director shared the following on October 5th:
“Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role,” says game director Yusuke Miyata. “We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character. I understand the concerns some fans have about the voice change at this point in the series, but Jennifer’s performance was way beyond what we could have imagined. I’m confident that her portrayal of Bayonetta will exceed our fans’ expectations.”
After writing to Platinum Games Director Hideki Kamiya, she received a response saying how meeting her was a cherished memory and how fans wanted her to return but would not pay her what she believed she was worth.
With the games set to release in just under 2 weeks, her message is having a huge impact impacts on fans. The only response we seem to have so far from Platinum Games is a tweet from Kamiya.
Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth. That's what all I can tell now.
By the way, BEWARE OF MY RULES.
— 無職 神谷英樹 Unemployed Hideki Kamiya (@HidekiKamiya_X) October 15, 2022
The message seems to be referring to Taylor’s message as untrue but the replies are filled with criticisms of his companies practices. Several of these accounts have shared being blocked by Kamiya after sharing their criticism and lack of information that conflicts with Taylor’s statement.
LMFAO pic.twitter.com/ioA4EhheXX
— PastelNoir BLUSH APRIL 8 (@PastelN0ir) October 15, 2022
What are your thoughts on this situation? Let us know in the comments.