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Did The Creators Of 'Bayonetta' Really Lowball Its Original Voice Actor? Here's What Actually Went Down
If you've been online in the past few weeks, you may have seen the cultural tides churning for and against Hellena Taylor, the voice actor for the 2009 Nintendo game Bayonetta. Mid-October, just weeks before the release of the third game in the franchise, the video game series became embroiled in a fair-wage controversy surrounding Taylor, who called for a boycott of the new game after being offered an "insulting" low wage of $4,000 for voicing a "$450 million" franchise.
But her accusations have come under scrutiny in recent weeks, resulting in a he-said, she-said mess rife with claims, counter-claims, and NDA violations. Here's all there is to know about the Bayonetta 3 boycott and voice actor controversy.
Why Did The Bayonetta Voice Actor Claim Unfair Wages?
Bayonetta is a third-person action game set in the fictional European city of Vigrid, where its titular character uses a combination of handguns and witch powers to fight and dominate her enemies. The dominatrix is also a popular character in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, with a sexy voice that sounds like it's perpetually sneering at you. This is largely thanks to voice actor Hellena Taylor, who voiced the character even before the game's Japanese dub.
Taylor, however, came forward just weeks before the release of Bayonetta 3 to make a Twitter video thread accusing the game's creators, PlatinumGames and Hideki Kamiya, of lowballing her on fair wages for the new game. She claimed that she was offered just $4000 to voice a game franchise that makes over $450 million, and asked fans to boycott the latest game in order to support fair wages for voice actors.
Friends, Worldlings, Bayonutters. Hear ye!#PlatinumGames #Nintendo #Bayonetta #Bayonetta3 #Bayonutters #Boycott #NintendoEurope #NintendoAmerica #NintendoJapan pic.twitter.com/h9lwiX2bBt
— Hellena Taylor (@hellenataylor) October 15, 2022
Fans of the game were quick to stand by Taylor, calling for players to pirate the new game to support Taylor while still enjoying the new game.
Fans also noted that her claims aligned with the less-than-professional behavior displayed by the ever-controversial PlatinumGames director and Bayonetta game designer Hideki Kamiya, who had taken to blocking detractors from his Twitter account en masse.
Why Doesn't Everyone Believe Hellena Taylor?
Soon after Taylor's claims went viral, discussions turned to why PlatinumGames would choose to hire acclaimed voice actor Jennifer Hale after supposedly lowballing Taylor. Hale is a popular unionized voice actor that has historically championed fair wages and was surely being paid more than Taylor claims she was offered.
This, combined with an October 18th Bloomberg article written by reputed gaming journalist Jason Schreier, led to doubts arising about the credibility of Taylor's statements.
What Happened To Hellena Taylor?
On October 24th, Hellena Taylor posted a series of tweets defending herself against accusations that she was lying about her pay offer. She now claimed that she was offered a flat rate of $10,000 with some incremental increases after negotiations, and was finally offered a flat fee of $4,000 for a cameo after being denied higher pay.
This led to a backlash against Taylor from fans that accused her of misrepresenting her projected pay and spoiling the prospect of voice actors advocating for better wages in the future. Other fans noted that neither Taylor nor Kamiya were on their best behavior regarding the situation.
For a full account of the Bayonetta voice actor controversy, be sure to check out our entry on it here for even more information.
