Since last weekend, Bayonetta 3 is at the heart of a big controversy following Hellena Taylor’s call for a boycott. Indeed, the actress had claimed to have refused to dub the character of Bayonetta again because of the indecent salary of 4,000 dollars offered by PlatinumGames.
A real blow of blood which had the effect of a small bomb in the whole world. Jennifer Hale, the actress who replaces her in this role, even had to speak at the beginning of the week because of the wave of harassment that she and several employees suffered as a result. And wait, it’s not over because, last night, articles from Bloomberg and VGC came to put a layer on this case.
A salary higher than indicated?
According to several sources considered close to the matter and contacted by journalists Jason Schreier and Andy Robinson, the Japanese studio would in fact have offered Hellena Taylor $3,000 to $4,000 per four-hour recording session. Knowing that between four and five sessions were planned, the actress would therefore have had the possibility to earn around $15,000 for his work.
A sum much higher than that which she mentions in her videos posted on Twitter a few days ago and that would be a significant increase from the cachet she hit while developing Bayonetta 2although the exact amount was not disclosed.
Hellena Taylor calls these revelations an “absolute lie”
Last weekend, Bayonetta’s former voice actor called for fans to boycott the new game, saying she was offered just $4,000 to work on it. Her Twitter videos went viral and stoked a debate over voice actor wages. But the full story is much more complicated… https://t.co/qPa8grfCtq
—Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 18, 2022
Still according to these famous sources, the discussions about this contract took place during the last summer. However, they would not have succeeded in particular because, in response to this offer, the American actress reportedly demanded a six-figure salary and/or royalties from game sales. A proposal that PlatinumGames refused. The talks would then have bogged down before being broken and all this would have finally led to the arrival of Jennifer Hale in the casting.
Contacted by Bloomberg and VGC, Hellena Taylor would have explained by email and private messages that all this information was “an absolute lie” and “a huge joke” to the point of letting go that PlatinumGames “was trying to save their ass and the game.”
She would also have added this: “I would like to put all this damn frankness behind me in order to continue my life in the theater. […] I think I’ll leave the videos as they are because I told the truth. » Also note that, for its part, the Asian company did not wish to comment on the revelations made by the two media.
It now remains to know the possible impact of this whole story on the launch of beat them all and on the dubbing sector across the Atlantic. While waiting to know the answer to this question, remember that Bayonetta 3 will be released on October 28 exclusively on Nintendo Switch.