Original Bayonetta VA calls for boycott of third game over “insulting” pay offer

Helena Taylor, the original voice actress for Bayonetta by PlatinumGameshas called for a boycott of the game after claiming he received an “insulting” pay offer for the role.

It’s been known for a while that, for some reason, Taylor wouldn’t reprise her role as the now-quite-iconic witch, as she essentially said as such last year. Earlier this month, prolific voice actress Jennifer Hale was confirmed to be taking on the role, with game director Yusuke Miyata saying “several overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role.” But now Taylor has posted a series of videos on her personal Twitter where she claims that she ultimately had to turn down returning because she was only offered $4000 for the performance.

“I ask the fans to boycott [Bayonetta 3]and instead spend the money you would have spent on this game by donating it to charity,” Taylor asked fans at the first of four videos he posted on Twitter yesterday, October 15. “I didn’t want the world. I didn’t ask for too much. I just asked for a decent, decent, living wage. What they did was legal, but it was immoral.”

get into some more detail on the “back and forth”, Taylor explained that she auditioned for the role again, noting that “sometimes the voices change over time”, but said that she “obviously passed with flying colors”. However, according to Taylor, after the audition she was sent an “insulting offer”, although she did not reveal what that amount was. Which led her to write to Hideki Kamiya, director of the first Bayonetta, and having worked on the story of all three titles, to “ask him what I’m worth.”

Taylor says that Kamiya responded to her by saying that “he really values ​​my contribution to the game, and the fans really want me to express that,” and that “the memory of the first time he met me as Bayonetta was a cherished memory.” Taylor then thought this would help, but it only led to the $4,000 offer.

Kamiya responded to the accusations about his own twitterwriting “Sad and deplorable for the attitude of falsehood. That’s all I can say now. By the way BEWARE OF MY RULES [sic]”that last line is a reference to how liberal he is with the lock button. Kamiya’s account is temporarily restricted at the time of writing.

PlatinumGames has not yet offered an official response on the matter, and neither has the publisher Nintendo.