Gaming Forums > Nintendo Gaming

Bayonetta 3 - Obligatory "Nintendo's Witch" Subject Edit

<< < (3/5) > >>

Luigi Dude:

--- Quote from: Adrock on September 23, 2021, 07:27:31 PM ---Recasting Bayonetta is some darkest timeline ****. Helena Taylor is Bayonetta, you cowards.

--- End quote ---

I do wonder if maybe the game is dealing with alternate timelines itself?  The first teaser in 2017 made it look like the normal Bayonetta was killed now we get this Bayonetta who without spoiling the first game too much, looks like she might have grown up differently which is why her voice and personality could be different.

So maybe Helena Taylor could still be voicing Bayonetta but she needs to be saved by an alternate timeline one first?  I mean that wouldn't be that far out there considering what the story for the first 2 games did.

Adrock:
Reposting this here as I plan on using this thread when Bayonetta 3 releases and not have to track down the Talkback thread:

I don't know enough about the voice acting industry, union vs non-union rates etc. to have an informed opinion on this. Per some cursory googling:

From Video Game Voice Actors: How Much Do They Get Paid?

--- Quote ---Experienced video game voice actors will receive $200 to $350 an hour or $50 to $200 per 100 words for their video game voice acting work.

...

However, typically, video game voice actors will receive between $200 and $350 per hour, with a minimum of two to four hours guaranteed per job.
--- End quote ---

From the "Video Games / Toys, Games, & Mobile Game Apps" section on Global Voice Academy (I cleaned this up because the info is in a table on the website)

--- Quote ---Video Games Non-union: $200-$350/hr (2 or 4 hour min)
Full Buyout Rate. Vocally stressful sessions should be limited to 2-hour sessions. Common per session rate you may see is $500 for 1hr max session.

Video Games Union: $825.50/session (up to 4hr session)
Vocally stressful sessions should be limited to 2-hour sessions.
--- End quote ---

Both websites above track with the rate mentioned in the article.

I couldn't find any info on whether Taylor is a union actress, but the offered rate appears to be on the low end of the non-union rate. Minimum, $4000 is 20 hours of work. I also don't have enough information regarding whether an entire character, especially the main, can be recorded in 20 hours or less.

From what I have gathered (which again, may be missing some critical info due to my limited knowledge on the subject), $4000 is insulting for an actress of Taylor's experience and pedigree who had voiced Bayonetta in four games and a movie. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate likely reused Taylor's recordings from For Wii U/3DS. I digress.

Nickel and diming gig industry workers is nothing new. I support Taylor breaking NDA to shine a spotlight on a problem that has persisted for decades. This likely blacklists her from voicing the character ever again and potentially from the voice acting industry as a whole. Not sure of the impact on her live action performances on stage and screen. Taylor's last credit on IMDB is from 2014. If you take low-ball offers, that will be the expectation moving forward. She may be struggling financially, but she'd be struggling with that $4000 so might as well fight the good fight.

My dilemma with boycotting Bayonetta 3 is that it punishes the actors (and everyone else) who worked on the game without actually doing the thing we want it to do: Tell Nintendo/PlatinumGames to treat their actors better. I fear the message conveyed will be "Oh, people don't want Bayonetta" which is total bullshit, but here we are.

Not sure who gets final say. Nintendo, as the publisher, foots the bill, but PlatinumGames may simply submit a budget over that Nintendo then approves/denies. Either way, PlatinumGames' statement that Taylor was unavailable is colossally fucked up in hindsight. Y'all just straight up lying to people now? It likely wasn't even that much considering how much money the game will make...


--- Quote from: Enner on October 15, 2022, 01:15:19 PM ---This is sad and bizarre. Sad because of such a dirt-ball offer for the main character in the third game. Bizarre because I can't imagine that freaking Jennifer Hale would take that pay. Then again, I don't know anything, so maybe Hale was okay with that pay and can knock out the job quick.
--- End quote ---
Jennifer Hale is a more prolific voice actor so I can't imagine she'd take a pay cut. I wonder if Nintendo/PlatinumGames was willing to pay Hale her asking price due to her industry standing but not Taylor (which would be gross).

EDIT: Included PlatinumGames in accountability.

Adrock:
I've been following this (weird) story all day so here are some additional bits I've come across:


* Hellena Taylor is a union actress, and Bayonetta 3 would have been union work. Jennifer Hale is a SAG-AFTRA actress so she wouldn't have worked on this game had it been a non-union job. She literally went on strike over the compensation for voice work.
* There's speculation that Hale was cast as Fauxyonetta(s), and PlatinumGames wanted to bring Taylor back in a much smaller role as OG Bayonetta. This may explain the $4000 offer. The union rate for a single four-hour session is apparently $975 (according to a voice actor on The Twitter). If Taylor did one session for grunts, screams, one-liners, and a few lines of dialogue for cutscenes, she'd be paid over four times as much as she normally would.
* $975 (and change) is the union rate for a single four hour session of up to three characters.
* In an interview from 2018, Taylor stated she completed her work on Bayonetta 1 in 16 hours (four, four-hour sessions).
On that second note, it'd be hard for me to side with Taylor, if true. However, here's the part I don't understand: Why even cast Hale? Bayonetta, like Taylor, has a British accent. Taylor is British; Hale is not. Nintendo/PlatinumGames essentially would have paid a different actress (possibly a higher rate) to work harder than the one they already had. Just cast Taylor in the main role she's done for 13 years, FFS. Taylor is a seasoned actress (who by her account, passed the Bayonetta 3 audition and was offered the role). Ask her to adjust her voice for every multiverse Bayonetta. That's like the most basic skill for any actor...

M.K.Ultra:
This whole thing has made me less excited to play the game. Like Adrock said, I don't that boycotting the game would really have the best effect. I am glad I did not order the special edition now, but I am not cancelling my pre-order. I think I will use the Japanese audio track like Luigi Dude said.

BeautifulShy:
Hale tweeted this past afternoon about the situation.


https://twitter.com/jhaletweets/status/1582084319677644801

Basically she supported every actor's right to be paid well and she has advocated for this for years.
Respect for peers and she advocates for everyone within the voice acting community.
She is under an NDA but her reputation speaks for itself.
Keep in mind the game was created by a full team of hardworking people and keep an open mind about what they created.
She hopes that everyone involved resolves their differences  in an amicable and respectful way.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page