Hellena Taylor, who voiced the character of Bayonetta in the first two parts of the game, has called fans to boycott the upcoming sequel and asked them to donate the money to charity. In a video posted on Twitter, the voice-over artist claimed that she was offered “insulting pay” by the Japanese game developer Platinum Games. 

Earlier in October, Platinum Games told the media outlet Game Informer that Hellena Taylor would not feature as Bayonetta in the upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive. They said that she has been replaced by Jennifer Hale – the voice artist behind games like Commander Shepherd. 

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“Bayonetta franchise made an approximately $450 million, that’s not including merchandise,” Taylor said in the video, adding “What did they offer to pay me? The final offer to do the whole game was a flat rate of $4000.”

“This is an insult to me, the amount of time I took to work on my talent and everything that I have given to this game and the fans,” she added.  

While announcing her removal from the role, Platinum Games said that “various overlapping circumstances” made it “difficult” for Taylor to voice Bayonetta in Bayonetta 3. However, with the new revelations from Taylor, it is clear that Platinum Games was not being completely transparent about it.

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“We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character,” Yusuke Miyata had told game informer then. 

“I understand the concerns some fans have about the voice change at this point in the series, but Jennifer’s performance was way beyond what we could have imagined. I’m confident that her portrayal of Bayonetta will exceed our fans’ expectations” he had added.

Taylor said that she has worked for years to hone her skills as a voice-over artist and the studio was not giving her worth. 

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“As an actor, I trained for a total of seven and half years. Three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts with voice coach Barabara Berkley and four years with the legendary Larry Moss at Los Angeles,” she said. 

“I am asking the fans to boycott this game and instead spend the money that you would have spent on this game donating it to charity. I didn’t want the world, and didn’t ask for too much. I was only asking for a dignified living wage and what they did was legal, but it was immoral.”