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[Draugoth]

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."

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Fuz]

How many lines?

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

Very petty.

 

[FullMetalx117]

Pretty fucked…Nintendo is probably thinking most don’t even care about the voice and hardcore fans would buy it anyways. They’re not thinking long term, of the legacy of the series.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Market value. Howamy lines and time to do the job?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Pretty fucked…Nintendo is probably thinking most don’t even care about the voice and hardcore fans would buy it anyways. They’re not thinking long term, of the legacy of the series.

Explains the Mario movie

 

[Saiyan-Rox]

Doesn't bayonetta have a Japanese voice actress? Cause I'm assuming that's where this game sells the most so that'll also come into play when seeing the profit margins of the game series.

Not that I'm saying 4,000$ is even remotely okay for the work I'm just saying.

EDIT: apparently 2 bombed in Japan, huh.

 

[anthony2690]

I can see why she refused the 4k.

But asking people to boycott the game, come on, lets be real, it isn't going to happen, these people waiting for the next bayonetta game, have been waiting years.

I'm sure you might get a handful of outliers that think they are doing something noble by boycotting the game, or maybe just saying they will despite having no interest in the game in the first place (usually the case with a lot of things)

 

[kunonabi]

How many lines?



Very petty.

Maybe, but she's right.

You know maybe if the VA community had followed Guy Cihi's example instead of throwing him under the bus this wouldn't have happened.

Good on Taylor for actually taking a stand. I was already boycotting it anyway but I like the donate to charity idea.

 

[synchronicity]

That seems pretty insulting, although I don't know what expected rates are. But just judging relative to the series overall success and how distinctive of a character Bayonetta is, I'd think she deserved *much* more than that to keep that essence within the series.

And when I heard that she wouldn't be returning, I know it diminished my enthusiasm a bit.

 

[Strider Highwind]

I always wondered if people doing voiceovers in games get royalties of any kind after that up front payment? That's a really low number

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

I'd love to be a voice actor

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

It's a shame yeah, I noticed something being off in super smash; the entire reason I have a switch is for bayonetta, so I'm not going to boycott it, but it's definitely a shame.

 

[BennyBlanco]

She was quite good but nobody is boycotting this.

This does raise questions about the budget for the overall project tho.

 

[I Master l]

Bayonetta franchise made 450 million dollars ?? i call bullshit

 

[Mister Wolf]

Using social media for attempts at shaming. She should just be professional and move on.

 

[Tarin02543]

I can do it and I'm a man.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Using social media for attempts at shaming. She should just be professional and move on.

They deserve to be shamed for this

 

[cireza]

I feel really sad for her. Her disappointment and suffering is very obvious, but even though, asking to boycott a game that was made by maybe hundreds of people is a difficult thing.

I feel very conflicted. Listening to her, you can definitely tell that her voice IS Bayonetta, she gave life to the character, along with the designs, animations and humor. She should have been offered a decent amount of money for this.

Fuck this.

 

[tusharngf]

That's cheap on nintendo side. 4000 dollars for such iconic voice.

 

[Killer8]

$4000 is a pathetic amount. Her absence as the voice of Bayonetta was immediately noticeable.

 

[Slothbeing1209]

Damn that's low for how popular the series is. And don't know how much time it take to do all the voice acting but must be >3,4 months. So <$1000/ month?

Wtf Nintendo?

 

[DeepEnigma]

They deserve to be shamed for this

Nintendo just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the Japanese public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Bayonetta 3, nor will they purchase any of Platinum's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Nintendo has alienated an entire market with this move.

Nintendo and Platinum, publicly apologize and cancel your plans for some phoned in back-alley voice actress, or you can kiss your business goodbye.

 

[CheeseCake]

$4,000 USD ?!!??!?!?​

Lmaoo... what the fuck...

Edit(25/10/2022): LOL..

 

[Represent.]

So Nintendo cheaps out on hardware and talent. The game looks like a game from 2007 so I won’t be buying it anyway, but this is cheap as hell.

 

[Fuz]

Maybe, but she's right.

No.
She's not Bayonetta. She's just an actor who got paid for a job, period.

Using social media for attempts at shaming. She should just be professional and move on.

Yeah.
She was offered a job, she refused it. That should have been the end of it. Normal business transactions.
Very unprofessional.

 

[AetherZX]

Definitely not buying it now then.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Signing exclusivity with Nintendo was the worst thing that could've happened to this franchise. I'm baffled that neither Bandai Namco or Capcom didn't come out of the bidding war with the rights, guess the sharks knew there was a deal to be had.

Meanwhile, regarding the OP, what did she counter with? $1m? Seems like the two sides were a chasm apart on what they thought was fair.

 

[Topher]

“If you're wondering about how much that is for this kind of job, it's pretty much a disrespectful offer.”

ok? So what would a respectful offer be?

 

[HarryKS]

I thought the Guild of voice actors actually protected them against this kind of behaviour in the industry. That's low.

 

[DeepEnigma]

“If you're wondering about how much that is for this kind of job, it's pretty much a disrespectful offer.”

ok? So what would a respectful offer be?

 

[Calverz]

I will boycott the game. I will not buy it in solidarity.

Spoiler

I never planned to buy it anyway

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

“If you're wondering about how much that is for this kind of job, it's pretty much a disrespectful offer.”

ok? So what would a respectful offer be?

I am curious too

How much work was involved here?

We talking knocking lines out in a couple of days of just coming in reading lines or what?

I need more info before picking a side here

 

[DeepEnigma]

I will boycott the game. I will not buy it in solidarity.

Spoiler

I never planned to buy it anyway

Jokes on them!

 

[DGrayson]

Using social media for attempts at shaming. She should just be professional and move on.

They deserve to be shamed for this

I think she should have explained what happened to the fans but calling for a boycott is a bit too far. If the fans want to arrange a boycott then they could.

 

[lh032]

well its Nintendo.

 

[Valt7786]

So they offer the OG voice 4k, she turns it down and they swap her for Jennifer Hale? I thought she'd cost a lot more to hire.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Trinity Masquerade Edition pre order cancelled.

 

[Beechos]

Did she mention the going rate for such a gig? If not then thats very suspect to leave that out to push her agenda.

Some of the hardest working people for these big multi billion dollar companies make minimum wage.

 

[MaxwellParrish]

Bayonetta franchise made 450 million dollars ?? i call bullshit

Yeah, make little sense to me. The first game has sold about 2.5 M copies, and I doubt that morethen a half of them at full price, and Bayonetta 2 was at 1.040.000 sold the last december. This should be less then 200 M in total revenue
EDIT : Sorry, the sale numbers for Bayonetta 2 are only for the Switch port, the original on WiiU seems to have sold between 850.000 and 1 million copies. So....other 50 millions bring us to 250 millions in total revenue

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I thought the Guild of voice actors actually protected them against this kind of beahaviour in the industry. That's low.

If you're in a union you're not working with Ninty lol

 

[yazenov]

I wasn't planning to buy the game, but now I'm interested.

 

[Topher]

I am curious too

How much work was involved here?

We talking knocking lines out in a couple of days of just coming in reading lines or what?

I need more info before picking a side here

Same here. I'm not drawing any conclusions here, but I pulled up her IMDB:

Hellena Taylor | Actress, Additional Crew

Known for: Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, The Sweetest Thing

www.imdb.com

She has done a handful of jobs in the industry. I'm currently playing Octopath Traveler on Xbox so I just picked one of the voice actresses from that game.

Primrose, played by Laura Post. Never heard of her. Check out her body of work in comparison:

Laura Post | Actress, Sound Department, Additional Crew

Known for: Persona 5 Royal, Justice League Action, Batman: The Enemy Within

www.imdb.com

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

I didn’t even notice a difference when watching the trailer. It’s a shitty situation, that appears to be getting worse due to COVID when tons of voice acting studios realized they could get 80% of the quality having people work from home.

That opens up the talent pool to practically anyone half decent, so the veterans are getting squeezed out. It’s too late to change it now but hopefully some outrage will keep Nintendo more honest in the future.

 

[Black_Stride]

4000 dollars.
Flat rate......the whole game?
Unless these guys were planning on doing all the VO in one session that is legit insulting.

Bayonetta is borderline 1st party at this point.
Who the fuck was in charge of doing the negotiations.

And wouldnt Jennifer Hale cost alot more.
Cuz if she was offered less the Hellena, man, VO work is rough!
She probably cant even buy a 4090, how is she gonna emulate this game to get some decent resolution and antialiasing?

 

[Neff]

Eh I feel a bit less bummed about it after seeing her fly off the handle like this. I expected her to handle it a bit more professionally, which until now is what I assumed she was doing. I don't know what the going rate is for a VA doing a game of this kind, or how much work she usually has on her plate, but she's not doing herself any favours.

Nobody is going to boycott this game over a voice change, no matter how definitive she was (and she really was perfect in the role). They're going to buy it, enjoy it, and complain that the new VA isn't as good as the old one. And that'll be that.

 

[Corpsepyre]

Voice actors have it pretty shitty. It's known. Still a bit maddening, given this is Nintendo of all companies.

Also, no way they offered the same deal to Jennifer Hale.

 

[LordCBH]

They flat out lowballed the voice of the iconic character, and then brought in a big name in the industry when she said no. Sounds to me like nintendo got what they were hoping for, which is a damn shame. I’m betting they didn’t want her to return to begin with.

 

[Topher]

Experienced video game voice actors will receive $200 to $350 an hour or $50 to $200 per 100 words for their video game voice acting work.

Novice voice actors earn between $1 and $5 per 100 words. Video game voice actors are also eligible for bonuses up to $2,100.

WikiLeaks V2 - New Version of the Legendary WikiLeaks Project

WikiLeaks V2 is a community of people who want to bring the truth to everyone on this planet. We are WikiLeaks V2. We will show everyone the truth.

performerlife.com

So she was getting paid for 20 or so hours of work?

 

[Kilau]

Will be no shock when we only have AI voices and the celebrities Kojima casts left in games.