About three years ago, Hellena Taylor, the former voice behind Bayonetta, published a series of incendiary social media posts calling out Platinumgames, the studio behind the Japanese action game franchise. Although Taylor had voiced the sultry character for years, she was replaced for Bayonetta 3 —and she claimed there was an “insulting” salary dispute. And now, world-class blocker and hold-talker Hideki Kamiya, who directed the original Bayonetta and oversaw the sequel, has finally addressed the controversy in a YouTube video.
Wearing small sunglasses and a T-shirt with a wolf howling at a moon, Kamiya recalls the incident in a way that sounds crushing. The footage quickly scrolls through a sampling of posts directed at Kamiya after Hellena Taylor tried to rally Bayonetta fans on social media against the platinum games, and some of them get nasty. Kamiya displays posts that call him a disgrace or otherwise demean him. His timeline was so flooded that he resorted to his famous block button. “But my blocking skills couldn’t keep up,” Kamiya says with a laugh. “They were even faster than my blocking.”
The outcry was sparked by Taylor’s claim that she was only paid $4,000 to reprise her role for Bayonetta 3 , which she felt was not commensurate with her contribution to the game. Ultimately, prolific voice actress Jennifer Hale took over as Bayonetta, and Taylor’s claim that she was cheap was challenged in a report that alleged Platinumgames tried its best to get her to return. The salary, the report said, was far higher than the number Taylor was touting on social media.
Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but she disputed the report at the time.
Kamiya says he felt initial reports at the time “glossed over” more sensitive details in a one-sided manner, which made it difficult for viewers to understand what had transpired between all parties involved. This, in turn, made it easier for people to become angry with Kamiya.
After the initial controversy died down, Kamiya says he went back to see what people were saying, only to realize that some of the crowd had deleted their initial posts on him.
“I told them, before I delete it, I apologize to myself first,” Kamiya says, before detailing how he handles conflict. When he’s wrong, Kamiya says, he admits it and apologizes—so he expects others to treat him the same way. While it’s not mentioned in the video’s automatic voiceover—Kamika speaks Japanese—the transcript notes that he felt the deleted posts were “real cowardly shit.”
“I thought this was really lame. I’m the type of person who holds a grudge, so I’m going to rant,” Kamiya says before moving on to other topics in the 12-minute video.
Besides Taylor’s galvanizing of the masses, part of what has caused the situation to explode is growing concern over the treatment of voice actors in the industry. In recent years, several games have replaced voice actors who played specific iconic roles, and voice actors argue that this is done so that companies don’t have to pay so much for new talent. Game companies, on the other hand, may feel that a series can be refreshed with new voice actors. The tension, among other things, led to a year-long strike in which voice actors lobbied for measures such as better pay and protections against AI.
