At the beginning of October, the Japanese developer PlatinumGames, known for its action titles, announced game informant the upcoming Switch exclusive bayonet 3 wouldn’t see voice actor Hellena Taylor reprise her iconic, sultry role as the protagonist. Instead, Bayonetta’s English VA would now be Jennifer Hale, one of the industry’s most ubiquitous voice actresses, known for roles like Commander Shepard. At the time, Platinum claimed the replacement was due to “various overlapping circumstances” that made it “difficult” for Hellena to play Bayonetta again. Over a week later, Taylor took to social media to contest Platinum’s account, suggesting the studio wasn’t entirely transparent about what actually happened.
Rather than lose the role because Hale was the better actor or because of something like scheduling conflicts, Taylor claims it was overpaid. In a series of videos, Taylor goes on to say that Platinum apparently only offered her $4,000 for the entire performance based on the trailers appeared to show the leading VA voicing multiple versions of the same character. For Taylor, who studied her craft for years and undeniably created one of the most memorable performances in the entire medium, the offer was found insulting.
“We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered Jennifer Hale the role, which we felt would be a good fit for the character,” said game director Yusuke Miyata game informant
But Taylor called the entire situation, while legal, “immoral.”
“Sometimes I think I’m not very much like Bayonetta at all,” Taylor said in a video in reference to her decision to speak up about what’s going on. “But I think I’m a little more like Bayonetta than I thought I was.
“I understand that boycotting this game is a personal choice and there are people who don’t,” she continued. “And that’s okay. But if you’re someone who cares about people, who cares about the world around you, who cares who gets hurt in those financial decisions? Then I urge you to boycott this game.”
Taylor was originally cast as the Bullet Time witch in the acclaimed 2009 action game and reprized her role for the series in the 2014 follow-up. The series is widely regarded as one of Nintendo’s finest modern franchises.
“I have chosen to stand up in solidarity with people around the world who are not being adequately paid for their talents,” Taylor said, likely referring in part to a A broader movement within voice acting, with key roles being replaced as performers vie for better pay through unions.
“Fat cats skim the top and leave us the crumbs,” she said, before noting that her inability to earn a living wage from the industry has left her suffering from depression and anxiety. As she recounts, she wrote after being crushed Hideki Kamiya, General Manager of the game, to represent her case. She claims he recognized her importance to the role and how much she would mean to fans. But the offer apparently still ended at $4,000.
“I was worried that I would take to the streets,” she said of the greater inability to earn a living wage. “It scared me so much that at one point I had suicidal thoughts. I’m not afraid of the non-disclosure agreement. I can’t even afford to drive a car. What will they do, take my clothes? Well then good luck.”
nintendo, bayonet 3‘s publisher, and Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And while PlatinumGames has not issued an official statement on the matter, Kamiya herself has appeared to reply on Twitter.
“Sad and regrettable for the attitude of untruth,” he wrote. “That’s all I can say for now.”
But even more stridently, he ended the note by typing, “By the way, BEWARE MY RULES.” As far as anyone can tell, this seems to refer to the use of Twitter, where Kamiya is infamously said to be blocking people left and right. Namely, his header image is just a series of posts where he warns “bugs”, especially those of foreign languages like English, that he has or will block them. And his pinned Twitter post consists of a set of “rules” which he warns will result in a ban if broken. “MY BLOCK BUTTON IS BIGGER THAN EVER,” they say.
sure enough People and even publications reporting about it bayonet 3 The voice acting situation seems to be being ban hammered by Kamiya at the moment. Meanwhile, other voice actors chime in with their anecdotes and experiences. Sean Chiplock, who voiced Revali breath of the wild, another game released by Nintendo, claims he was only paid around $2,000 to $3,000 for his role based on the number of hours spent in the studio. But he noted that this pay was mostly due to him voicing three different characters, not one.
“Bayonetta always stands up for those who are less powerful and stands up for what is right,” Taylor said in her videos. “And by doing so, you stand by her,” she said of the player’s possible decision to boycott the game. In the videos, Taylor also wished Hale, the new Bayonetta, well. But she still had harsh words to say about what it would mean for her to take on Bayonetta’s role.
“But she has no right to say that she is the voice of Bayonetta, I created that voice,” Taylor said. “She has no right to sign Waren as Bayonetta, just as I have no right to sign as Eva Green, even though I was her parent in The Golden Compass video game. This betrayal is hers, and hers alone. They’ll probably try to do a spin-off with Jeanne. Don’t buy that either.”
The last video Taylor shared was aimed solely at Nintendo, PlatinumGames, and “fat cats” in general. It was a retelling of Lazarus the beggar from the Bible, and a major criticism of the morality that goes with emphasizing money over people.
bayonet 3 will be released on October 28th for the Nintendo Switch.