Major controversy in the video game world — the lady who’s voiced ‘Bayonetta’ for years says she was offered chump change for part 3 … and now wants the new entry boycotted.
Actress Hellena Taylor posted a series of videos Saturday, in which she accuses the honchos of “Bayonetta 3” of grossly lowballing her to reprise her character … in an alleged amount of only $4,000, which she considered incredibly low and something to turn down in the end.
She ticks off her professional credentials — not to mention her storied legacy as voicing Bayonetta since its inception in ’09 — as reasons why she thinks her talents are worth more.
According to HT, though, the companies behind ‘B3’ didn’t think her services for the entire game deserved anything above a few thousand bucks … which she says is insulting, and reason enough to stand up and speak out — despite an apparent NDA she’s breaking.
Taylor claims she even wrote the game’s creator/ED, Hideki Kamiya, to explain why she thought it’d be a huge disservice to write her off and go with someone else … and goes on to say he wrote her back with an empathetic message, and the final offer of $4k.
In the end, PlatinumGames/Nintendo — which are behind the uber-popular ‘Bayonetta’ franchise — tapped legendary voice actress Jennifer Hale … a veteran in the gaming world, who almost certainly got paid more than just $4,000 — that’s what Twitter thinks, anyway.
Taylor says her beef isn’t with Taylor — whom she wishes the best — but also notes … this woman has no right to claim herself as Bayonetta, as the character as been helmed by herself since the beginning. She also slams the video gaming industry at large for what she says is a systematic practice of screwing over talent and keeping all the profits for execs.
PG and Nintendo have remained silent on the allegations so far, but Kamiya has fired back online with a somewhat ominous message … “Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth. That’s what all I can tell now. By the way, BEWARE OF MY RULES.”
FWIW, Gaming Twitter is firmly on Hellena’s side … decrying the alleged decision to lose the OG voice actress over something as petty as this. It’s also pretty sad to hear HT’s description of her financial state … sounds like she doesn’t have much to lose by spotlighting this.