It's been a wild ride for Bayonetta 3 recently and everyone involved - with the original Bayonetta voice actor Hellena Taylor making allegations against PlatinumGames and Hideki Kamiya last weekend after a wage dispute. Since then, a different account of the story has been reported and well, that's where we're at right now.
Jennifer Hale, the new voice of Bayonetta, has been caught in the crossfire - with Taylor claiming in her four-part video message that the voice of Commander Shepard and Samus Aran had "no right" to step into the spotlight as the Umbra Witch. While Hale didn't provide a direct response, she did state how she supported the right to be "paid well", mentioned how much respect she had for her peers, and reminded everyone the new game was made by a team of hard-working people.
She's now taken to Twitter once again, essentially asking everyone to calm down and be nice - simply stating how there are "many lessons" to take away from something like this, and reminding everyone to 'be good to each other":
In Hale's previous statement, she mentioned how she had signed a non-disclosure agreement and was obviously not at liberty to speak about the situation. She also hoped that "everyone involved" in the current drama could "resolve their differences in an amicable and respectful way".
According to Bloomberg's report, Platinum was supposedly "determined" to have Taylor reprise her role and was willing to offer "at least five sessions" with each one paying "$3,000 to $4,000 for four hours in the studio". Bloomberg further states how "Taylor asked for a six-figure sum as well as residuals on the game" which Platinum dismissed. Taylor was then reportedly offered a cameo for around $3,000 to $4,000. You can a full recap in our previous stories below:
Read more:
[source twitter.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 69
Guys, the story is over. You are just milking this now.
She's so classy!
It is wild to me how this story just flipped on its head halfway through. Seems to be over now if you ask me though
Yeah this Saga has ended, and what a nice ending too!
Well this was quite the rollercoaster.
So, who’s excited for Bayonetta 3? Ah who am I kidding, nearly everyone is!
I guess when people mean the story is over, they mean Hellena Taylor clearly lied, and there’s no use in piling onto a woman with clear mental health problems, and I totally agree.
Twitter is merciless. This story needs to go away for Hellena’s sake and we all should be playing Bayo 3 for Halloween next week.
Good advice. I love sleep.
Oh good.
Let's talk more about this.
Certainly we'll solve the mystery this time.
I agree with JH, we should all be calm and collected.
Really feel for Hale as she's really been caught in the middle of something she shouldn't be involved in. Taylor dropping her in it was out of order.
Platinum made me wait a long time for this game.
I'm going to make them wait a long time for my money. ❤️
So Taylor lied about her rate. $3000 per 4 hour session is a little over twice SAG rates, while she was leading people to believe she was getting paid that as one lump sum. It’s rough enough for voice actors who are legitimately pushing for a living wage… this is an insult to everyone in the industry whether it’s union or non-union work. I’ll take some solid advise… going back to bed till a real voice actor needs support.
Good for her.
Going to play it now.
I like her already, can’t wait for the game.
@blindsquarel Look, I like taking potshots at news-starved niche outlets as much as the next commenter.
But you had to click this story in order to say that, and it wasn't exactly clickbait. So we can't blame anyone, here. That's all.
I feel like this story has gone as it's far as it's going to go. everyone's chosen their side, and minds probably aren't gonna change.
She is right about trying to be good to each other, its anything but easy but its important.
I also like the mention of sleep, sleeping is great.😴
@CharlieGirl Hellena does seem to be having some mental heath issues at the moment, so people should ease off. But I believe she should really be called out for her lies and malicious intent.
She did a lot of damage.
I sided with her very early on and was disappointed with Platinum. But then I did some Maths based on her claims and realised nothing added up. I mean each game had to sell for $150USD for the series to see the type of money she claimed it was earning. And I didn't like how she threw Hale under the bus.
I think people like a David vs Goliath story and instantly side with the little guy. This case though, Goliath was the one people should have sided with.
It disturbed me when people said she deserved royalties. Imagine being a dev, working on a game for 100s of hours for years and you don't get royalties. But everyone starts screaming that a VA who does 16hrs of work over a week should get them. That's a slap in the face. Actors are already overvalued as it is.
Imagine thinking you're worth more than you actually are when you've only ever voiced ONE character your entire career.
I'm just glad this stupidity was exposed quickly thanks to Schreier's reporting, and that Taylor's half-baked revenge scheme only ended up tanking her own credibility.
Hellena’s feelings are likely real. The facts and the current information gathering do not necessarily support her claims and allegations. Nevertheless, it’s important to wait for information to come out before taking action, which the social media mob tends to do the opposite and react before researching and waiting. For those still interested, I believe more facts will come out, but the result of this is it makes me want to buy the game sooner to support Platinum’s employees and to wish Hellena peace.
I said this replying to one of your Twitter posts. Fortunately though people have been well behaved based on what I've seen and those that haven't only make up a small minority.
I think the biggest lesson learnt here is to hear both sides of the story first before jumping to your own conclusions and generating fake outrage.
It is evident which person is sane and respectable.
Only a week until Bayonetta 3 releases now.
While she was nowhere near one of them, there are voice actors out there who's work is being undervalued. I think it's really unfortunate the choices Taylor made because there was a good message that will probably get overshadowed by what she did. What she did is all anyone is going to talk about while voice actors who actually are being undervalued will be largely ignored. I think that the main thing I want to take away from this is what she said was so believable because it is a thing that is happening all the time. Her specific story may not have been entirely truthful, but there were quite a few voice actors speaking out about their own experiences. Forget her, but remember them. The repercussions of this reach farther than just this one game.
Hehe similar thing happend with Terrence Howard who represented "Rhodey" in Iron man 1. He didn't accept the offer from marvel and said im the star so pay me more why does Robert get more than me when he's nothing compared to me Look what it led to ) Either way it should not ever be public for such things now when i play bayonetta 1-2 i feel strange hearing her voice. I hope she get's well soon since she does have problems..
The story is over. Some anonymous sources had twisted the truth so the Corp to look in far better light, to throw shadows in people’s minds and hearts and to burry the truth for good. We may never know the truth now, but those siding with the corporate side of things every time had their minds set against Hellena from the very beginning.
The story is far from over it will resurface once the game release and it will be titles like "Despite Hellena's asking for boycott the game sales went overboard" or something like "Hellena said it fans took it and the game sales took a hit"
It looks like a lot of people should have asked their mums about how to properly talk to a lady
I learnt from this, indeed, that there’s nothing I can take at face value online and thus choosing sides is usually a waste of time anyway when the story can shift completely the next day.
This story is done now, Hellena lied and threw a tantrum by trying to get us to boycott the game and failed, the end.
I have not seen one comment on this and I am very surprised so I will say it. Hellena Taylor is hot xxxx
@Dragonslacker1 The topic is not about that but since you mencion it no she is not
But has anyone asked Bayonetta who her preferred voice actor is?
Corporate exploitation of the working class is never resting. So why should anyone stop discussing it. But yea stop fighting amongst yourselves and keep the convo going.
Hrmm I'm going to agree with the "classy" assessment but there is a hint of "Patronising" in this.
Agree with others... time to move on from this story NL (although appreciate these articles have generated the most comments!!)
This shouldn't have been a thing in the first place. She lied, attacked a fellow VA and her career is most likely over.
I'm looking forward to Bayo 3 and would love to hear how Hale sounds in it.
@CharlieGirl I agree with Tanuki. She needs to take accountability for the mess she caused. Including getting Twitter block champions name thrown under the bus, was attacked and told to kill himself for saying she lied and said the amount she was really offered. She even attacked Hale for no reason cause she petty and jealous.
Clearly she has mental issues and needs help. But it all unnecessary on her end
Well... That was really interesting. I'm glad that this story have a good ending.
@Severian Who cares is her feelings are real or not? She clearly tried to manipulate the public in a crusade over misinformation via intentional omission. She also factually acted like an entitled child and tried to throw the new voice actress and everyone else involved in the project but not responsible for her payment at all under the bus. That's an absolute fact, and it was a fact even before Schreier's report. Schreier's report just also frames her as malicious and manipulative on top of everything else.
Ah the Internet, where one persons perspective can become fact in seconds, and then disproven after a day and that person is demonised.
I thought the expression was be excellent to eachother. Now enough with these articles! All you're doing is creating a bubble of controversy around Bayonetta 3 and some of us would rather just get excited about playing the game.
Now this game will forever have this bad publicity upon it and it'll either help or hurt it's sales. I'm betting it'll actually have a more positive effect. Everyone will want to play what could very well be the last Bayonetta or platinum games effort in a very long time. Way to go Nintendolife. Keep that mud flying!
Meanwhile the other VA was attacking this one even while trying to appeal to her audience under false pretext. The difference between a person with class and a bottom feeder.
Truegamer79 yes blame Nintendolife becouse their doing their job and informing us for what is going on Good thinking
Hideki Kamiya and Jennifer Hale have been the subject of untold harassment by the twitter mob over this. How many of the twitter mob are going to apologize now to them. Will it be less or more then 1%?
I wished for Hellena Taylor to apologize herself and set the record straight, that would have been the most elegant resolution to all of this. There is still the opportunity to do so.
No there is no opportunity yes she can say im sorry i was wrong but kinda to late Full of youtube/twitter and i don't know other platforms with this stupid debate. What's done is done.
Stay awesome Jennifer Hale, stay cool. Is it next week yet?
Can't wait to play Bayo 3! More power to Hale!
Gonna play it day 1 though I hope things get sorted out asap.
I'm sorry for Taylor but I'm playing the game, for the game. I'll mute the audio if I have to just to make a point.
Goes to show be careful what you wish for you damage your own reputation and improved Nintendo image instead and the Developer that this time around they weren't in the wrong. She just did them a BIG favor they can now use this against other voice over jobs. She did no one any favors by misrepresenting the facts. That so clearly is true now and she tells Everyone To "Just Be Good To Each Other" is that a JOKE?????
I can count the number of times a voice actor has impacted my gaming experience on zero fingers. I suppose everyone deserves their 10 seconds of fame. Moving on...
Hyped for the game, honestly couldn't care less about this voice actor stuff, it's a non-issue. There's more to AAA game development than one person.
@Moistnado It sure did snake from mgs is not snake if not for david Just sayin
@SwitchForce Jennifer Hale is the voice actress that replaced Taylor. You are confusing the two.
@iaLgan Metal gear solid has good voice acting, but the game holds up on its own.
This story is so weird. Taylor offers no documentation or proof of anything, waits until right before release hoping to tarnish the games release and it takes less than a couple days for the entire story to unravel and her career in VG-VA is totally over. What a poorly thought thru plan.
Meanwhile Hale keeps taking the high road at every opportunity, even tho Plat Games just acts like a bunch of pricks instead of actual professionals running a business.
Did she get advice from Jussie Smollet about how to get attention when your pride is wounded?
@SwitchForce Hellena Taylor's did have some responses to the new information from the Bloomberg and VGC articles. She said it was "categorically untrue," "an absolute lie and complete joke." She followed up with "I’d quite like to put this in the [rearview] mirror and leave the whole bloody franchise behind."
Jennifer Hale is the new VA for Bayonetta.
@Krysus don't know if she got information from him. Haha. I'm sure she sought help with putting together her videos. One of the sides of cancel culture she tried to appeal, especially with Bible quotes in the fourth video.
Honestly, Jennifer should not have been attacked at all, but I still have no idea what to believe.
Wage disputes aside, HT should have never name-dropped Jennifer Hale, it's petulant and bitter. I have the feeling this won't be the last time we hear about Taylor dragging Jennifer Hale's name through the mud either as potentially good sales and potentially positive reviews start appearing for Bayo 3 and make mention of Hale doing a fine job in the role (if she indeed does that is).
@TanukiTrooper well summarized! Unfortunately it’s difficult for some to understand that “well paid” is subjective most of the time in that industry. Meanwhile the developers always get shafted compared to the “talent”.
@Ryu_Niiyama It has become a debacle regardless whom said what at this point. One voice career is over and another is in the shadow because of another Greed and Stupidity they really don't think how it affects others in that career field.
@fenlix
Bravo, the best possible comment!
However this continues to unfold, it will be Jennifer Hale who comes out of this looking great.
Quite why anyone would have ever attacked her over this situation (including Hellena) is beyond me.
@SwitchForce ok but my comment to you was more to the fact that Hale who said “be good to each other” is not Taylor who made the initial accusations. Your previous comment reads as if you are thinking Hale made the accusation and then back tracked to say be good to each other. When she has been as neutral or positive as one can be getting dragged into this situation.
Moment of silence for the people who cancelled their pre orders based on a lie
I will sum this whole thing up.
Original voice actress got greedy thought Platinum games would give in to her. Platinum said ok bye we can get someone else. Original voice actor is blaming everyone because she got greedy.
@retroman64
Moment of silence for people who pre-order games at all. No game in recent memory has every sold out on launch day where a pre-order was necessary, also the majority buy games digitally so it's a couple simple clicks to pre-order their digital copies again.
Be excellent to each other……..and party on dudes!!!
@Old_Man_Nintendo i only pre order Nintendo stuff because they mostly deliver on launch, and I prefer physical copies personally
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