Bayonetta 3 Drama Continues As Voice Actress ‘Revises’ Original Story

While there are still a few days to go until the release of Bayonetta 3, most of the initial hype for the game has predominantly been hijacked through the drama of comments made by the original voice actress. – For those of you out of the loop, I strongly advise you first check out this (link here), and then this (link here) to get fully up to date.

In a nutshell, however, following confirmation that the original Bayonetta voice actress, Hellena Taylor, would not be reprising the role of the character, she took to Twitter to post a series of videos asking for a fan boycott due to what she considered to be an insulting offer for her work. – She claimed that she was offered $4,000 total for the mainstream role which was subsequently flatly denied by developer PlatinumGames.

Well, here we have a few updates as following some new Twitter posts, Hellena Taylor has basically said that, well… The developers were actually (mostly) telling the truth.

Bayonetta 3 – The Drama Continues!

While I’ve copied the thread for you to read (above and below) the short version is that it now turns out that what she originally said in her series of videos was actually (deliberate or otherwise) incredibly misrepresentative of what really happened. – It turns out that the truth is (in her own words) that she was initially offered $10,000 to do the voice work for Bayonetta 3. A figure that was upped to $15,000 after requesting additional pay from the game’s developer. – It seems, however, that this was nowhere close to the actual amount she wanted, and, as such, she was not offered the job.

What about the $4,000 figure though? Well, again, as part of her own Twitter thread, Hellena Taylor has now clarified that this was what was offered to her for essentially a fairly nominal amount of voice lines for the game (presumably in a brief reprise of the character as it is understood that the title will feature multiple ‘versions’ of Bayonetta). Again, her own words on this are “some lines” strongly indicating that the workload for this $4,000 was not overly substantial.

Overall, although you are entirely free to draw your own conclusions, it seems that Hellena Taylor is pretty much supporting 90% of the comments made by PlatinumGames. Comments which (in regards to the developer) I always suspected sounded more accurate to what actually happened when comparing it against her original narrative.

The only thing she categorically denies is rumours floating around the internet that she wanted $250,000 for the job. Albeit, she doesn’t go as far as to deny the allegations that she did demand a six-figure salary and also residuals from the sales (she once again mentions how much the franchise has made clearly indicating she believed she deserved a much larger slice of the pie for Bayonetta 3).

Sour Grapes!

According to her own IMDB page, it has been 8 years now since Hellena Taylor last landed any significant work in the film, TV, and/or gaming industry. Her last job actually, give or take, was on Bayonetta 2 which, and I mean no insult, clearly indicates that a major prolific high-demand voice actress she is not. As such, I would’ve thought that she’d have jumped at the chance (very gratefully) to earn $15,000 for a relatively straightforward project such as Bayonetta 3. – It seems, however, that her comments will undoubtedly be set to mostly backfire on her.

A quick look at the Twitter responses she has received so far shows very little support or sympathy from most people. And I’m not going to lie, I firmly put myself among them! – Largely because, as above, it seems that she very deliberately tried to misrepresent the whole contract negotiation situation in an effort to play herself off as a ‘hard done by’ struggling voice actress. Well, in fairness, the ‘struggling’ part might actually be true. I think I’d be ‘struggling’ pretty significantly if I hadn’t managed to land myself a job in 8 years!

If anything though, rather than a boycott, this only seems likely set to promote Bayonetta 3 sales and ultimately seems to show an actress who possibly thought, with a third game incoming, that this was going to be her opportunity to attempt to strong-arm the developers for a hefty payday. A move which has clearly, in more ways than one, backfired on her quite catastrophically.

Overall, this Twitter feed from her has probably given Bayonetta 3 more free promotion and advertising space than Nintendo could’ve even dreamed of!

What do you think though? – Let us know in the comments!