Hellena Taylor Now Claims She Was Offered $15,000 For Bayonetta’s VA Role

It seems the Bayonetta 3 controversy is only heating up with every passing day as the waters keep getting murkier with each development. 

In a recent article by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, it was reported that Bayonetta’s original voice actress Hellena Taylor was offered $15,000 for voicing the entirety of Bayonetta 3.

Schreier further reports that contrary to what was stated by Hellena Taylor, the voice actress for Bayonetta, Platinum Games actually offered her $4,000-$5,000 per session. 

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS: 

• Hellena Taylor, the former voice of Bayonetta, has responded to the claims of the developer on Twitter. 
• She has called out the people opposing her by saying PlatinumGames comprises “corrupt, greedy people.”  

It was also reported by Schreier that Hellena Taylor supposedly asked for a “six-figure salary plus residuals” for Bayonetta 3 and after extensive negotiations, she was turned down and replaced by voice actress Jennifer Hale. 

After a few days of silence, Hellena Taylor has finally responded to these claims via Twitter and called them out on being false. 

It has come to my attention that some people are calling me a liar and golddigger. I feel the need to defend myself and my reputation in the industry. See thread #PlatinumGames #Nintendo #Bayonetta #Bayonetta3 #Bayonutters #Boycott #NintendoEurope #NintendoAmerica #NintendoJapan

— Hellena Taylor (@hellenataylor) October 24, 2022

Contrary to what was previously stated, Taylor mentioned that she was initially offered a flat $10k for voicing the entirety of Bayonetta 3 which she found extremely low for a “450-million-dollar franchise” and after negotiating with director Hideki Kamiya she was offered $5,000 more to a total of $15,000 for the game. 

Taylor also confirms that her initial rate for working on the original Bayonetta was $3k and she was offered a “little more” for her work in Bayonetta 2. 

She further urges fans of Bayonetta to boycott the game and instead donate to various charities instead of “buying this game from corrupt, greedy people”. She goes on calling out Jason Schreier in a statement saying, 

I will post the 14 charities, so that you can donate to charity, instead of buying this game from corrupt, greedy people.) There are people who are attempting to throw shade and discredit what I say. The industry is powerful, they have powerful journalists too.

— Hellena Taylor (@hellenataylor) October 24, 2022

There are a few strange inconsistencies in Taylor’s statements. In her original video, Hellena Taylor claimed that she was offered a flat $4,000 for voicing the entirety of Bayonetta 3 instead of the now-mentioned $15,000. She also claims Bayonetta is a 450-million-dollar franchise when the series has always been commercially niche. 

For those who are out of the loop, mere weeks before the release of the long-anticipated Bayonetta 3, Hellena Taylor, voice actress of the original 2 Bayonetta games posted a video via Twitter claiming that she was offered a paltry sum of $4,000 for voicing the entirety of Bayonetta 3 and asked her fans to boycott the game. 

While Bayonetta fans initially sent a ton of support her way, things came to a screeching halt when Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reported that a reputable source had stated that she was offered $15,000 for the game with a $4,000-$5,000 rate per session. 

Regardless of who is in the right here, Bayonetta fans have been involuntarily thrown into a frustrating rollercoaster. 

Bayonetta 3 comes out in 4 days on October 28th exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.