Update: Jason Schreier, the author of the original article from Bloomberg, says he has seen a document with written evidence of Hellena Taylor being offered at least $15,000 for her role in Bayonetta 3.
Bloomberg has published an article regarding the Bayonetta 3 dispute between the previous voice actress for Bayonetta, Hellena Taylor, and developer Platinum Games. The news site says that they have spoken to two people familiar with the discussions around payments for voice acting in the upcoming Bayonetta 3, but the accounts wildly differ from Taylor’s version of events. They told the news site that Platinum Games wanted Taylor onboard for at least five voice acting sessions with the pricing set at around $3,000 to $4,000 for each session, which would make the total payment for the game at least $15,000. However, the sources say that Taylor asked for a six figure sum and residuals on the Bayonetta franchise, she was refused and Platinum Games then decided to audition for a different voice actress with Jennifer Hale getting the part.
“In the case of Bayonetta 3, the developer appeared to be determined to rehire Taylor, according to two people familiar with the negotiations as well as documentation reviewed by Bloomberg. Here’s where their accounts differ: Platinum Games sought to hire Taylor for at least five sessions, each paying $3,000 to $4,000 for four hours in the studio, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to discuss private contract negotiations. That would make the total for the game at least $15,000. In response, they said, Taylor asked for a six-figure sum as well as residuals on the game. Platinum declined and, following lengthy negotiations, took auditions for a new actor. Platinum later offered Taylor a cameo in the game for the fee of one session, which she turned down, the people said.”
In an email, Taylor described this account as “an absolute lie” and said Platinum was “trying to save their ass and the game.” She said she stood by everything she said in the video. “I would like to put this whole bloody franchise behind me quite frankly get on with my life in the theatre,” she wrote. Representatives for Platinum Games and Nintendo didn’t respond to requests for comment. Hideki Kamiya, the executive director of Bayonetta 3, called Taylor’s allegations “sad and deplorable” in a Twitter post.”
I believe it.
It baffles me to see how many comments claim that the Bayonetta franchise is a huge thing. It really isn’t. The games are critically acclaimed but they have never been big sellers. To she should be entitled to 6 figures isn’t a bit delusional.
She clearly doesn’t like the franchise either. She wants people to boycott the game. She acts like the character lives only in her. And now she says she just wants to put it all behind her.
I think she (and many commenters on this) just overestimated her value a thought she had star power as Bayonetta.
The first two have sold 6 million combined. In video game sales this is not a low number. Bayonetta 3 will most likely sell close to that number alone. One million sellers are almost always considered hits in video game sales. Not defending the original VA, but the sales number does make the franchise considered successful.
If this is true then this would make Kamiya’s response harsh yet accurate.
He was going to be like that no matter what, it is his daily MO
Companies are always the villains in the eyes of the people. The moment she made a post everybody ganked on Platinum Games saying are bad they are.
Oh look, her spotty claims are starting to crumble before the light of truth, who would have guessed?
Yes some companies like that like to save their own skins and don’t pay the voice actors well enough for each voice acting sessions and continue to make a fake cover up so they won’t face criticism over Tylar’s dispute. If this whole thing is actually true according to the article and the document statements, then this could possibly lead Platinum Games facing a lawsuit over the small amount that Tylar has gotten.
And they will win hands down. If this is all well-documented, then they did nothing wrong. The only violation here is of an NDA, and regardless of how it happens from here on out, Hellena Taylor has proven she cannot be trusted and has no problem burning bridges. That is what prospective employers will see.
The damage is done. She probably won’t work again in this field, at least not for a while. She at least is Bayonetta, through and through, as Hell hath no fury. Haha
For God’s sake, just take the L. This attitude is probably why Kamiya blocked you in the first place
So… My hero Liam Robertson was wrong this whole time?
He said he knew mlre about this situation and he talks with people from Platinum Games from time to time.
Well, at least today he confirmed he’s g4y, hope i’m his type.
I read your comment and… I don’t know if you’ve ever seen The Office, but the scene of Michael’s response after Erin suggests she was hired in a scheme just to be murdered for the life insurance… well, Michael’s line popped into my head.
Lmao, she purposefully witheld that part of the story because she knew she would barely get any supporters if it came to light. Should’ve known she was only speaking partial truths with the way she was talking about how the other actress will never be Bayonetta. That statement was a red flag for sure.
This whole situation was sus, I mean she brought this drama up around same time other big VA were having issues with dubbing paying them low plus it’s super close to Bayonetta launch date and she disclose this drama on twitter the main place where as along as you have a meaty following you can definitely blow anything out of the water and have people talking about it for weeks.
Hey looks like Hideki Kamiya block me on twitter because he ain’t man enough to handle a simple criticism over Tylar’s dispute. He know exactly what he did wrong. He basically trying to defend his own skin. XD
Kamiya blocks almost everyone who tweets him. He’s been known to say thank you tweets to fans followed by a BLOCK in the same message.
Oh so that’s why. That’s not very notable of him to be doing that to his fans like that. Now I see why people have issues with him blocking his fellow fans so he wouldn’t get any replies from them if that’s a fact.
Yeah, he’s very stringent on what he allows. If you tweet to him you have to make sure to use Google translate to tweet to him in Japanese, because he will block any tweet that’s anything besides that.
Oh is that so huh?
+sonicgalaxy27
Yeah, Kamiya is well known for blocking people on Twitter, even I got blocked.
Don’t take it personally, it’s just something he does for fun.
Honestly, its very unlike him to be doing that to others for no reason. Blocking people for no reason is basically consider harassment or bullying.
It’s just for fun.
it’s not like people who make articles about themselves and dox people in such articles.
What an entitled bitch. It’s unprofessional to be calling for a boycott when there are hundreds of people involved in making games. And not only that she also encourage harassments toward her fellow voice actress.
Hope she gets blacklisted and never work on the industry again.
Well, I always try and not take people’s word for things immediately on the internet and this is exactly why. She’s seemingly attempted to skewer things in her favor by not giving all the details, and now that more info has come out ” wants to put it all behind her” Ma’am, YOU started this. At the end of it all, she got mad she was replaced cause it looks as she was under the impression she was indispensable and thought PG had no choice but to pay her what she asked for. When they proved that was not the case she got big mad, and is trying to burn it all down. Says it all really.
I still advocate for VAs to be paid fair and treated well, what Taylor did was not de wey.
I can’t root for Taylor overall, but yeah I’m still all for voice actors getting better pay and fair treatment.
I mean it’s like saying I wish everybody can make as much money as possible. Of course but truth is everything as a price and everything as a worth. Offer and demand is a real thing. If you are really worth more you could easily find a job elsewhere. The real question here is are voice actors really paid badly? Tons of voice actors are making a living of it
Plus she ended up being a massive TERF and pretty far right, but yeah nevertheless VA’s deserve better pay than they get
Whats very ironic about this whole VA controversy is that, in addition to Bayo 3 getting more attention than from the actual merch and ads, the game has reportedly shot up in the number of pre-orders or something within giants like Amazon, so Taylor asking fans to “boycott” Bayo 3 has done the opposite effect. Go figure.🤷
Same thing happened with Sword and Shield, despite having people declaring a boycott it became the second best selling game in the series. You could also argue that games like Night Trap might’ve been forgotten about and ignored if the Supreme Court didn’t make a big stink about it back in the day. Perhaps the thing to do is to remain silent if you intend to boycott a game, otherwise what you’re doing is giving the game publicity and unintentionally marketing it.
The Amber Heard comparison someone made in the previous article’s comment section is feeling mighty accurate right now. Glad I held off on saying anything about this story til more info came out. As I said in the words from Hale article, Kamiya’s untruths comment makes sense now. In the case of liars, I wouldn’t be nice with my words, either, so I won’t fault Kamiya for being mean. (Plus, I’m an asshole when not in a good mood.)
If Taylor by some chance proves Bloomberg is covering for Platinum, though, I’ll gladly change my opinion. In any case, good luck.