What you need to know:
- Bayonetta is an action-adventure hack and slash game developed by Platinum Games.
- After being supported by Nintendo, the series was brought to Nintendo’s consoles exclusively.
- For the third game in the series, Platinum Games opted to hire a different voice actress to play the titular Bayonetta.
- Bayonetta’s original voice actress, Hellena Taylor, alleged that she declined the role due to the meager salary Platinum Games offered.
Bayonetta as a franchise has had a bit of a rocky journey, almost fading into obscurity before being revived by Nintendo, who brought Bayonetta 2 to the Nintendo Wii U as an exclusive, alongside a port of the first game.
Bayonetta 3 was announced in 2017, but no further information was given until the September 2021 Nintendo Direct. Scheduled for an October 2022 release, the third instalment in the series features the Umbra Witch sporting two pigtails this time around, and a lot of gun-slinging action.
However, Bayonetta 3’s development was not without its problems, either. It was revealed that the original voice actress who played Bayonetta, Hellena Taylor, would not be making a return. Though the reasons for this change were not initially revealed, the voice actress recently spoke out about her reasons for declining the role.
Friends, Worldlings, Bayonutters. Hear ye!#PlatinumGames #Nintendo #Bayonetta #Bayonetta3 #Bayonutters #Boycott #NintendoEurope #NintendoAmerica #NintendoJapan pic.twitter.com/h9lwiX2bBtOctober 15, 2022
In her Tweet, Taylor explains, “The Bayonetta franchise made an approximated 450 million dollars; that’s not including merchandise.” She gave a summary of her 7.5 year education history, three years of which were spent at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and the other 4.5 years spent in Los Angeles training under Larry Moss.
After auditioning again for the role and passing with “flying colors”, Hellena Taylor says she received an “insulting offer” from the studio. She ended up writing to Hideki Kamiya, the executive producer of Bayonetta 3 after the initial offer with a figure she deemed worth her expertise. Kamiya reportedly sent a seemingly supportive response. Taylor claims that Platinum Games’ final offer ended up being a flat rate of $4000 USD to voice Bayonetta throughout the entire game, which she was also dissatisfied with and subsequently declined.
While Platinum Games has not publicly commented on the matter, the replies to Taylor’s tweet by fans of the franchise show empathy towards the established actress, and disappointment at the developer’s alleged offer.
Discussion about this post