Early on October 24, the original voice actor forBayonetta, Hellena Taylor, took to Twitter to clarify more details about her ongoing controversy. The news comes with just a few days to go until the release of the nextBayonettagame, the long-awaitedBayonetta 3, which is a Nintendo Switch exclusive.Recently, Taylor went viral after voicing her grievances, including the pay she received for portraying the iconic role of Bayonetta in the first two entries of the series and then declining to reprise her rule in the upcomingBayonetta 3. She said that Platinum Games made a $4,000 total offer for her to return forBayonetta 3, but Taylor said she declined, calling the offer an insult and below industry standards. Taylor then asked fans of the seriesto boycottBayonetta 3in solidaritywith voice actors as a response to the low payout that the profession receives. Taylor then called out the character’s new voice actor, Jennifer Hale, and said that while Hale was a professional, Hale was “not Bayonetta” from her perspective.RELATED:PSA: Bayonetta 3 Spoilers Are Hitting the InternetHowever, it turns out that the numbers Taylor initially gave were misleading. On October 24, Taylor posted a Twitter thread and confirmed that reports of her being offered multiple voice-over sessions for total pay of $15,000 were correct. In short, the offer from Platinum Games was muchmore substantial pay than she initially claimedsome days before. In the thread, Taylor said that she wrote personally toBayonettaseries creator Hideki Kamiya and asked for what she claimed she was worth. After Taylor turned down the $15,000 offer, she said that she heard nothing concerningBayonetta 3for several months and that she could not talk about any of the failed negotiations at the time due to being under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
As for Kamiya and Platinum Games, both had different responses to the claims from Taylor initially.Kamiya responded on Twitter and denied the initial claimsfrom Taylor and called the statements “sad and deplorable” in short. Kamiya then subsequently blocked anyone who either replied to him or quote-tweeted his words in non-Japanese languages, in accordance with his notorious Twitter policy. Twitter then temporarily suspended Kamiya for the mass blocks but returned to the platform some days after.
In a more cordial approach,Platinum Games released a statement on the controversyon October 20 and backed Hale as the new voice of Bayonetta. Hale stated on Twitter that she could not comment on the controversy due to being under an NDA, and asked the public to think of the teams at Platinum Games and Nintendo that made the game series as a whole. Whether the controversy has any good or bad effect on the sales ofBayonetta 3remains to be seen.
Bayonetta 3releases on October 28 for Nintendo Switch.
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