Hellena Taylor, the English voice actor for PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2, has called for players to boycott the upcoming Bayonetta 3. Over the weekend, Taylor released a series of videos alleging that she was offered low pay to voice the character that she’s been playing since 2009.
While video game franchises have recast characters in the past, Taylor actively calling on fans of the franchise to boycott the release of Bayonetta 3 is unusual.
In her videos, Taylor claims that she was offered $4,000 to return and play Bayonetta for the third game, whose trailers hint at multiple versions of the same character appearing in it. That amount of pay, while she acknowledged as being legal, was also "immoral."
“The Bayonetta franchise made approximately $450 million. That’s not including merchandise,” said Taylor. "This is an insult to me [and] the amount of time that I took to work on my talent and everything I’ve given to this game and to the fans.”
In Bayonetta 3, the titular character will be voiced by Jennifer Hale, whose career includes Mass Effect and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Platinum explained to Game Informer earlier in the month that Hale’s casting was due to “various overlapping circumstances.”
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As reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, PlatinumGames was reportedly fully prepared to bring Taylor back as Bayonetta. The initial plan, according to sources, was that Taylor would be paid $3,0000-4,000 for at least five four-hour recording sessions and a total of nearly $15,000.
Taylor allegedly asked for a six-figure sum in response, along with residual pay for after the game’s release. When Platinum declined that offer, negotiations ensued, and the search for a new voice actor began after said negotiations broke down. The developers later offered Taylor a cameo in the game for a fee of one session, which she similarly declined.
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