Hellena Taylor (Voice of Bayonetta) Offered only $4,000 USD to Voice Her Again in Bayonetta 3. (Update: Hideki Kamiya deletes his Twitter)

John Elden Ring

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To clarify, this is the best offer she could negotiate to reprise her role for Bayonetta 3. If you're wondering about how much that is for this kind of job, it's pretty much a disrespectful offer.


Hellena Taylor, Bayonetta's original voice actress, explained on a 3 part thread on her twitter account why she's not back as Bayonetta. Among other things, she opens up by saying that Nintendo only offered her up $4000 USD (presumably, before tax). She's also asking people to instead of spending $60 on the game, go and donate it to charity instead (just putting into text what she's saying here). I'll keep updating. For now, the videos are below

"Bayonetta franchise made aprox $450M. That's not including merch. As an actor, I have trained for seven and a half years. Three years in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and four and a half years in Los Angeles"

"What did Nintendo think this was worth? The offered to pay me the final offer to do the whole game as a buyout for 4000 thousand US dollars. This is an insult to me and everything I've given to this game and to the fans"

"I'm asking the fans to boycott this game and instead use the money you were going to spend on this game donating it to charity"

"I was just asking for a decent and dignify living-wage. What they did was lega, but it was immoral"

___________________________

"Boycotting is a personal choice, and if you don't, that's fine."

"I decided to stand up for all the people who don't get paid enough for their talents"

"This affected me and made me think I was going to be on the streets, which affected me mentally"

"Bayonetta always stands up for those with less power and for what is right. And with this, you stand with her. Thank you"

____________________________

"I auditioned for the role and passed with flying colours. They then sent me an insulting offer so I thought and did write to Hideki Kamiya, and I went and ask him for what I'm worth. A friend wrote in Japanese to him and I got a reply where he said he values me greatly, my contributions to the game and that the fans really want me to voice it over. Then I received a better offer: $4000."

"Platinum said that I was very, that I had a tough schedule... I actually had nothing but time. I wish the new actress all the best luck in the World, but she's not the voice of Bayonetta. I created that voice. She has no right to sign merchandise as Bayonetta, anymore than I have the right to sign as Eva Green even though I was her parrott in the video game The Golden Campus."



Update;
 
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laynelane

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That's so cheap of them. It's good that the actress has spoken up. Character voices are important in video games, but I've noticed several companies don't seem to realize this.
 

Bryank75

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Just catching up on this.... what an absolute disgrace. If this is true I hope Platinum get their asses kicked.

They've been doing shady things the last few years instead of just making good games.
 

Oogabooga

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What did she expect? LMAO she is irrelevant, so this is not really that bad. A bit below the average.
 

ethomaz

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What did she expect? LMAO she is irrelevant, so this is not really that bad. A bit below the average.
How many hours she had to work to record all voice in the game? It is pretty bad no matter how you look to it even for amateur.

And it is not just record any voice… it needs context and if it is an emotional line or the voice have to follow the animation already pre-made then it become even hard and can take hours to reach the desired result.
 

Oogabooga

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How many hours she had to work to record all voice in the game? It is pretty bad no matter how you look to it even for amateur.

And it is not just record any voice… it needs context and if it is an emotional line or the voice have to follow the animation already pre-made then it become even hard and can take hours to reach the desired result.
The average about 200$ for every 3 hours of working in the game. unless you are known, irreplaceable and really good like Troy Baker it can go up to 1000$. But her? Eh idk she can be easily replaced with anyone. someone like Troy Baker with 6 milions net worth doesn't come from voice acting itself, but from the fandom and advertisement. Voice acting is just a side job.
 
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TubzGaming

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She is actually being overpaid. The average about 200$ for every 3 hours of working in the game. unless you are known, irreplaceable and really good like Troy Baker it can go up to 1000$. But her? Eh idk she can be easily replaced with anyone. someone like Troy Baker with 6 milions net worth doesn't come from voice acting itself, but from the fandom and advertisement. Voice acting is just a side job.
SAG actors are $500 an hour. Non-union shops are $250 an hour per actor, usually up to 3 voices. Assume 70-75 words per minute given time to set up context and do multiple takes per line. That's your default rates.
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Dr Bass

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SAG actors are $500 an hour. Non-union shops are $250 an hour per actor, usually up to 3 voices. Assume 70-75 words per minute given time to set up context and do multiple takes per line. That's your default rates.
r/gamedev
Does a game company in Japan have anything to do with people in the screen actors guild? Serious question.

Just a couple thoughts as there are surely multiple sides to this.

How much work was involved? A days work? Two days? A lot more?

No one is entitled to a job.

You basically earn in accordance to the value you provide.
 
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Dr Bass

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So what she said was true?

BTW he said he doesn’t believe what she said was the full story that looks to me that he doesn’t know the story and just don’t believe in what she said.
So your conclusion of someone deleting their twitter account is that ... he was lying?

Maybe he's just sick of the absolute pit that is Twitter. Why would anyone bother with that whole thing this day and age is beyond me.
 

ethomaz

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So your conclusion of someone deleting their twitter account is that ... he was lying?

Maybe he's just sick of the absolute pit that is Twitter. Why would anyone bother with that whole thing this day and age is beyond me.
Twitter deleted it… not him.
It started with limiting what he could post yesterday and ended in removing the account.

And I commented in what he said… he was saying that he believes her story was not the full story… more like he doesn’t know what happened.

But something he posted was tagged as fake and Twitter limited his account and today it is deleted.
 

Dr Bass

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Twitter deleted it… not him.
It started with limiting what he could post yesterday and ended in removing the account.

And I commented in what he said… he was saying that he believes her story was not the full story… more like he doesn’t know what happened.

But something he posted was tagged as fake and Twitter limited his account and today it is deleted.
What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. So what if Twitter limited it? He could still say to hell with this and then just delete his account.

Your conclusions have zero evidence is all I’m saying, especially in light of the personality type of Kamiya. Twitter doesn’t get in the middle of business gripes, and considering their activist nature that has turned out to be in error recently, I wouldn’t take their actions as evidence of anything at all, either.
 
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