The director of Bayonetta 3, Hideki Kamiya, recently spoke out about the lingering effects of the voice actor controversy that overshadowed the game’s launch in 2022. The mess started when Hellena Taylor, the original voice of Bayonetta, posted videos claiming she had been offered only $4,000 to reprise her role—an amount she called insulting for a franchise that had earned millions.
Taylor’s claims went viral almost instantly. Fans, industry figures, and influencers rushed to condemn PlatinumGames and Kamiya specifically, with many calling for boycotts of the Nintendo Switch exclusive. The blowback was swift and fierce, putting enormous pressure on both the studio and Jennifer Hale, who had replaced Taylor as the voice of the iconic witch.
Kamiya initially responded in his characteristic blunt style on social media, cryptically dismissing the claims while rapidly blocking users who questioned him—a move that only seemed to confirm people’s suspicions that PlatinumGames was in the wrong.
However, everything changed days later when Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier uncovered documentation showing that Taylor had actually been offered at least $15,000 for several recording sessions—a standard industry rate. Further reporting showed that Taylor had rejected this offer and instead demanded a six-figure sum plus residuals, which the studio declined.
When confronted with this evidence, Taylor eventually admitted these details but still said she had been mistreated, though her story had shifted quite a bit from her initial claims.
What really annoys Kamiya now, as he explained in a recent interview, is how those who publicly went after him handled it once they realized they’d been wrong.
“People were saying whatever they wanted. Even famous people were jumping in and throwing comments at me,” Kamiya stated. “And then, once things calmed down, I went back and looked, and they had quietly deleted their tweets. Hey, apologise to me first before you do anything sneaky. That’s some real coward shit.”
The replacement of Taylor with Jennifer Hale—one of the most well-known and possibly higher-paid voice actresses in the industry—should have made folks question Taylor’s claims that PlatinumGames was just cutting costs. As one commenter put it: “When I saw Jennifer Hale was the replacement, I knew something was up. It makes no sense they would go with probably the most notable female VA for video games as an alternative.”
When Twitter storms cloud judgment
Despite all this, Bayonetta 3 went on to get decent reviews, with Hale’s performance widely praised. The game kept up with the stylish action combat the series is known for, though the fallout from the controversy continued to be felt by those involved.
This whole thing serves as a warning about jumping to conclusions based on one-sided stories on social media, especially when messy contract talks are happening. For Kamiya, the lack of public apologies from those who first slammed him is still a sore spot, even as the game itself has moved on.
