The lead up to video game “Bayonetta 3” has been a long one. The sequel to the surprise 2009 hit was originally released for the Wii U in 2014 before getting a much needed re-release for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. A third installment had been announced and teased by developer PlatinumGames. Excitement and joy many fans had for the title have taken a hit in the wake of controversy surrounding a statement made by Bayonetta’s original voice actor, Hellena Taylor.
Taylor has a number of credits to her name, as an actress both on camera and providing voices. Her most famous role is arguably that of the gun toting witch, Bayonetta. PlatinumGames largely has that title to credit for getting them going in the gaming industry after its founders broke off from Capcom to form their own company. Since then they’ve released a number of titles, most notably “Nier: Automata” and another Switch exclusive game “Astral Chain.” Still, even with the gap between titles, “Bayonetta” is their signature franchise and the third installment in it has been in high demand since PlatinumGames rereleased the second game in the series for the Switch.
Earlier in October, Jennifer Hale was announced as taking over as the voice of the titular character. PlatinumGames claimed “various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role.” Hale is arguably the most prolific voice actor in the history of video games. She was Naomi Hunter in the “Metal Gear Solid” franchise, she performed the voice parts of Samus Aran in “Metroid Prime,” and the voice of Bastilla in the “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” titles. This is in addition to one of her fan-favorite roles, the female version of Commander Shephard in the “Mass Effect” franchise. There are so many other roles that it would be hard to list them all, but they also include various Marvel and DC game adaptations, the “Halo” franchise, and more. All that is to say, it was not entirely shocking for her to voice Bayonetta, even if she was replacing another actor.
What WAS shocking was Taylor posting a series of videos urging fans to boycott the game. She went so far as to claim PlatinumGames lowballed her- $4,000 to voice the entire game. This amount upset her greatly. She claimed her performance should be worth more than this amount, especially considering the current economic state and how underpayment issues are rampant throughout business, not just the voice acting industry.
The result of this has seen fans showing support for Taylor with some of them lashing out against PlatinumGames, Nintendo, and Jennifer Hale. PlatinumGames co-founder Hideki Kamiya, who Taylor claims she “wrote to,” posted a pretty clear message in response. “Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth,” Kamiya tweeted.
Hale eventually posted her own commentary on the situation, also on Twitter.
Online discourse continued. Some fans assumed Taylor was telling the truth about what she had been supposedly offered for the game, but most industry folks- voice actors, etc.- were supportive of Hale. So, even with broken NDAs on the part of Taylor, where does the truth of the matter lie?
Bloomberg reporterJason Schreier published an article which revealed the game company offered Taylor closer to $16,000 for the part. Negotiations reportedly fell apart when Taylor demanded a six-figure payout, alongside residuals. Schreier’s story was also backed up by another source from Video Games Chronicle. The outlet reported Taylor responded to them through direct messages, claiming PlatinumGames’ response was untrue and a “complete lie.” As of the time of this writing, Taylor has gone silent on her public Twitter.
With all of the above being the facts of the case to this point, let’s try to break all of this down with a bit of perspective and commentary.
We looked into current pay rates for voice acting for games via SAGAFTRA. It seems like the $4,000 figure was not specifically a lowball for that kind of work. The usual work day on a game pays the standard SAG-AFTRA rate of $956.75 per session, which is limited by union rules to maximum of 4 hours in a single day. Anything above that is considered overscale.
“Bayonetta” titles are decidedly NOT dialogue heavy, so if Taylor were to complete recording in 4 days, the payment would line up with current standards. If PlatinumGames was offering $15,000, that’s considerably more than base pay, and could have been offered out of respect for returning her to the role. Either that’s a lie, or Taylor felt she deserved more, hence the negotiation breakdown and the casting of Hale.
What makes PlatinumGames’ version of the story more likely is they did hire Jennifer Hale for the role. Hale, given her status and fame, would likely cost considerably more than Taylor. One could assume the company wasn’t trying to just pay baseline figures, given they could’ve found cheaper options than Hale.
PlatinumGames has since released a statement on their Twitter.
Regardless of Taylor’s story, issues of fair pay are legitimate in the voice acting business, and there are surely other voices to be heard on the matter. We will do our best to keep you informed about any updates to the situation.
“Bayonetta 3” is due out October 28th, 2022.
