Voice actress Hellena Taylor, known for playing Bayonetta, has taken to Twitter to dispute a claim made by PlatinumGames. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the role of Bayonetta had been recast, and that Jennifer Hale would be taking over for Hellena Taylor, because of scheduling conflicts making it difficult to reprise the role, at least according to PlatinumGames. However, shortly after that announcement, Taylor posted a series of video messages on Twitter, explaining that the decision had nothing to do with any difficulties in regard to timing or scheduling, and instead was due to the fact that Platinum offered only $4,000 for her to voice act the entire game. She then asked for Bayonetta fans to boycott the game, and instead take the money they would have spent purchasing the game, and donate it to a charity.

I understand that boycotting this game is a personal choice and there are those that won’t, and that’s fine. But, if you are someone who cares about people, who cares about the world around you, who cares about who gets hurt with these financial decisions, then I urge you to boycott this game.

Taylor says she only wanted a livable wage for her performance and fair payment for the time and effort that voicing the protagonist of a video game franchise that has sold over $450 million dollars. PlatinumGames had made Taylor reaudition for the role of Bayonetta, because "sometimes voices change with time", but she was once more chosen to voice the title character in Bayonetta 3. After she was given the part, though, she was given "an insulting offer" by the company. This prompted Taylor to send a letter to the director of Bayonetta 3, Hideki Kamiya, who sent her back a "final offer" of $4,000 to voice all the lines in the game.

Friends, Worldlings, Bayonutters. Hear ye!#PlatinumGames #Nintendo #Bayonetta #Bayonetta3 #Bayonutters #Boycott #NintendoEurope #NintendoAmerica #NintendoJapan pic.twitter.com/h9lwiX2bBt

— Hellena Taylor (@hellenataylor) October 15, 2022

She also spoke about Jennifer Hale, who will be the voice of Bayonetta in the upcoming game, and that she wishes her well, but that she also believes that Hale "has no right to say she is Bayonetta". Taylor mentioned that speaking up about this was a breach of her non-disclosure agreement, but that she has nothing of monetary value to be taken, so she decided to speak up.

Hideki Kamiya responded to the claims with a chain of various Tweets, and a wave of blocking people who Tweeted at him--something he is known to do--to the point that it got him temporarily restricted on the platform. His main reply to Taylor was, "Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth. That's what all I can tell now. By the way, BEWARE OF MY RULES", and while the latter half of the message sounds like a threat, it is moreso likely referring to Kamiya's tendency to block Twitter users for breaking his "rules".

People online were upset by this, and some even were blaming Jennifer Hale for taking the role at all. Hale has not yet made any comment on the matter, though she has notably liked numerous Tweets that claim she can't speak on the matter due to NDAs, or that she was unaware of the drama in the first place when she was cast. Other voice actors in the video game industry offered their input, such as Sean Chiplock, who said the $4000 appeared to be "union rate", and that he was paid "approx 2,000-3,000" for his work voicing Revali, Teba, and the Great Deku Tree in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Meanwhile, he says his two offscreen lines in the film Detective Pikachu earned him more money than his work on BOTW, and that even voicing characters in the indie game Freedom Planet was worth more than the voicing roles in BOTW, because unlike video game voice acting work, he was given sales royalties from the role.

 

[Veho]

99% of the people involved in making the game have already been (under)paid, they don't get residuals or percentage of the profits or anything like that, so a boycott or lack thereof won't affect their pay.

The only way to make a living wage from VA work is to be prolific and grind the crap out of it (just like the person who replaced her).

And you don't think that's fucked up?
Professional voice actors get paid a pittance, to the point of where it's not worth the bother to put in any effort, until they all get replaced by a text to speech app because it's cheaper.
The only ones getting a decent pay for voice work are screen actors, and that's just a glorified advertizing payment.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

to IMITATE Taylor's voice acting for the character.

Do you know that for sure? Martinet´s Mario was his idea, but I´d imagine Bayonetta was more fleshed out during development of the first game. Her arrogance extends to how she moves and her facial expressions. Do you know how much of that was Taylor´s interpretation?

Post automatically merged: Oct 17, 2022

99% of the people involved in making the game have already been (under)paid, they don't get residuals or percentage of the profits or anything like that, so a boycott or lack thereof won't affect their pay.

But it affects whether they will have a new game to work on.

 

[Xzi]

Do you know that for sure? Martinet´s Mario was his idea, but I´d imagine Bayonetta was more fleshed out during development of the first game. Her arrogance extends to how she moves and her facial expressions. Do you know how much of that was Taylor´s interpretation?

What? We're talking about the role of the voice actor here, of course that has nothing to do with how the character is animated. Based on the trailer for Bayonetta 3, however, Hale is very clearly trying to imitate the same voice that the character has always had, the voice given to her by Taylor. A few people in this thread even remarked that they can't tell the difference, and that's by design. Platinum/Nintendo didn't want to replace the voice, they just wanted a bigger, more famous name attached to it.

Japanese work/corporate culture is fucked, sadly even more so than American work culture.

 

[subcon959]

And you don't think that's fucked up?

I do, but in the same way I think having any other job as a daily grind is fucked up. I feel like she could've done more over the years (based on her talent) than just put all her eggs in the Bayonetta basket.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Based on the trailer for Bayonetta 3, however, Hale is very clearly trying to imitate the same voice that the character has always had, the voice given to her by Taylor.

She could be trying to imitate Taylor´s voice. Or she could be using the same cues as Taylor received when voicing Bayonetta for the first time. We simply don´t know unless you have more info.

 

[MagnesG]

What? We're talking about the role of the voice actor here, of course that has nothing to do with how the character is animated. Based on the trailer for Bayonetta 3, however, Hale is very clearly trying to imitate the same voice that the character has always had, the voice given to her by Taylor. A few people in this thread even remarked that they can't tell the difference, and that's by design. Platinum/Nintendo didn't want to replace the voice, they just wanted a bigger, more famous name attached to it.

Japanese work/corporate culture is fucked, sadly even more so than American work culture.

Nonsense, Bayonetta character creator Mari Shimazaki had already include some pointers for what kind of voice she would have during the design process. It's sultry with a hint of elegance.

 

[VartioArtel]

She herself answered in an interview saying the studio sessions for Bayonetta 2 last only a couple of days. That's says a lot about the speculated working duration.


Of course it depends. If the game is an action game (around 15-20 hours), only 2-3 hours max cutscene, with much more characters involved, I'd say it's worth it. The person might only be involved at max 70% of that, maybe even 50% of the game. Pretty sure 16 hours of studio sessions can cover that aka more than $4k.

And if that person's portfolio only revolved around Bayonetta, with not much other prominent role, I would say the person can suck it up vs Hale with her portfolio. Hale woul've gotten more than what offered when she non-stop applied and got multiple roles over the years.

I really don't understand how come she can't even get a single semi major role except for Bayonetta, and even that last role is from Smash Bros Ultimate, in 2014 mind you.

She's unstable in a lot ways too based on the videos where she burned bridges for her future potential work with lots of other companies. Maybe she got turned down in a roundabout way due to her behavior.

Got a source for these 'she burned bridges' videos?

Post automatically merged: Oct 17, 2022

if you actually read the statement, she says the 4k was the higher offer, they started even lower
pretty disgusting

If $4k was the higher offer, it's likely that using the $250 rate, they expected way less than 16 total hours of recording. Considering Bayonetta's an Action Game and not exactly the most Story Heavy series of all, it's not exactly a stretch to say that is true. I still don't see any conflict with reality as revealed by other VAs. Would be like complaining that the Actors of Megaman X6 got paid that much. And yes, Taylor's about that level, like her or not.

 

[r1vver]

Easily! I didn't plan to buy it anyway. Tho noted it in my Piracy List, but it's very different story.

 

[Viri]

which is why it's hilarious all the conservative NEETs are claiming they'll be "buying ten copies" in light of this news.

I'm a Conservative, and have 0 plans to buy or pirate her game. I never had any plans to buy her game before, because I don't like Bayonetta games. If I did, I'd be like 95% of this site, and just pirate it, like every other game.

 

[Xzi]

Nonsense, Bayonetta character creator Mari Shimazaki had already include some pointers for what kind of voice she would have during the design process. It's sultry with a hint of elegance.

And if not for the already-existing VO, Hale could've and very likely would've interpreted those "pointers" in a completely different way than Taylor did. That's the entire purpose of an actor's job, to bring to life something that previously only existed as a couple notes on a piece of paper.

Y'all act like $4,000 is acceptable pay for a creative role, but by doing so you're siding with executives who make $100,000+ in a role completely outside of and disconnected from the creative process. This is why AAA gaming in particular is hitting a wall in recent years, and becoming more and more soulless.

 

[ZeroFX]

The west never cared to keep the same voice cast on games anyway, the bastards, also the Japanese voice is 1000x better and will always be the canon one for japanese games, (ps: doesn't matter if the first port had only en voices, it got corrected later). And let's be honest, why the drama? She got a low offer, she rejected, they said ok bye so where's the bad doing? LOL, just go find another role to play (bet she'll have some now with that drama).

 

[guisadop]

wow, how petty can you be?
4k is a pretty high offer for a no-name VA and a couple of voice lines.

 

[linuxares]

The west never cared to keep the same voice cast on games anyway, the bastards, also the Japanese voice is 1000x better and will always be the canon one for japanese games, (ps: doesn't matter if the first port had only en voices, it got corrected later). And let's be honest, why the drama? She got a low offer, she rejected, they said ok bye so where's the bad doing? LOL, just go find another role to play (bet she'll have some now with that drama).

That's the thing... it still sounds like something more happened behind the scene.
Also did she try to negotiate the pay? Where they firm?
They aren't forced to keep her as the English VA...

 

[Xzi]

That's the thing... it still sounds like something more happened behind the scene.
Also did she try to negotiate the pay? Where they firm?
They aren't forced to keep her as the English VA...

Yes she did try to negotiate, per the OP. $4000 was the HIGHER, FINAL offer. Which means they offered her even less the first time around, presumably under $3000.

 

[Kioku]

And if not for the already-existing VO, Hale could've and very likely would've interpreted those "pointers" in a completely different way than Taylor did. That's the entire purpose of an actor's job, to bring to life something that previously only existed as a couple notes on a piece of paper.

Y'all act like $4,000 is acceptable pay for a creative role, but by doing so you're siding with executives who make $100,000+ in a role completely outside of and disconnected from the creative process. This is why AAA gaming in particular is hitting a wall in recent years, and becoming more and more soulless.

The idea that since "similar" roles pay that low, that makes it acceptable. Absolutely laughable.

 

[LainaGabranth]

What an absolute shit take by yet another simp.

The issue isn’t about her refusing a “low” ($4k for a two days’ job is low, ok) pay. The issue is that she’s trying to put up a huge controversy, trying to damage the company, the people working on the game AND THE NEW VOICE ACTOR. I get that people like you go “OOGA BOOGA” when you see a female in distress and have to rush to her aid, but maybe try using your head rather than your dick.


Who tf are you and what did you do to LainaGabaranth

Post automatically merged: Oct 17, 2022

Oh ok, I got worried for a second.

Yeah it's wild knowing people have more to their positions than just dogma. You should try it sometime. I'm not willing to blindly trust people at their word in situations like this purely because there's no way to do it without being hypocritical. If you take her at her word, then what reasoning do you have to not take Kamiya's in tandem? He's the director after all, more than anyone he'd be knowledgeable about what went on and most important of all one could argue that he'd be quick to want to shut this down after all the negative press Platinum has gotten lately from games blowing up in their faces repeatedly as of late. Bayonetta 3 is their one big shot title that they're likely betting a lot on, whether he's telling the truth or not the last thing he needs is controversy surrounding it, after the massive financial sink that was Babylon's Fall or whatever it's called.

It's a very messy situation and I hope that whatever is true, there's justice in the end.

 

[raxadian]

You're right, we don't know. That's what makes this situation all the stranger. They really let her voice the titular character for this long and choose NOW to want someone new? It doesn't add up, no matter how you spin it.

Well, who the fuck knows? When it comes to stuff that has no record it ends with "He said/she said" and is very hard to find out whatever happened.

 

[Kioku]

Well, who the fuck knows? When it comes to stuff that has no record it ends with "He said/she said" and is very hard to find out whatever happened.

Yeah, the speculation isn't helpful. Doesn't hurt to question things, though.

 

[ZipMartin]

The original voice actor "created" Bayonetta in the way she felt would fit the character for the English speaking public, and I think that she was successful at that. Of course her interpretation had to be directed and approved but it was still her work, and the next voice actor will end up trying to emulate the personality Hellena Taylor created for the original game.

Also, I believe most artists don't normally have regular jobs, so they have to look constantly for them, so I think measuring that kind of work and an ordinary office job 44h/week by the same rule doesn't really make sense.

In the end it is great for whoever owns the IP and will sell and resell the finished game as much as they can and get all the profit; not so good for the public, who gets something with inferior quality due to how things were managed; and terrible for the artist who even gets the blame for not agreeing with underpayment.

That's why Bayonetta 3 is in my pirate-only list too. I think people love works of art but don't know or care to appreciate the artists behind them.

 

[YamiZee]

4k is certainly not enough for the voice of an iconic character in their own game. People are buying and playing Bayonetta for the character, not just the game. Should get 1% royalty at least.