Director at PlatinumGames Hideki Kamiya seems to have closed his Twitter account in the midst of a growing controversy concerning the pay rate of voice actor Hellena Taylor. The account was flagged for suspicious activity on October 15, most likely for blocking a large number of people in the wake of the ongoing backlash to his poor handling of Taylor calling for a boycott of the upcoming Bayonetta 3. The unmistakable words “this account doesn’t exist” now grace the profile page, suggesting that Kamiya either deleted or deactivated the account.
The voice actor who played Bayonetta in the first two entries in the eponymous franchise, Taylor, recently called for a boycott of Bayonetta 3 on the grounds that her pay rate was little more than a pittance considering the work involved, revealing that she rejected an offer to reprise the role, having only been offered $4,000 for the entire game. The position has in the meantime been taken up by another voice actor, Jennifer Hale.
Immediately prior to calling for a boycott of Bayonetta 3, Taylor listed her incredibly impressive voice acting credentials in a lengthy post on Twitter. “What did they offer to pay me? The final offer to do the whole game as a buyout and as a flat rate was $4,000,” she remarked. “This is an insult to me and to the amount of time I took to work on my talent and everything that I have given to this game and the fans."
Taylor went on to ask fans of the franchise not to purchase the game, donating the money to a charity of their choice instead, "I am asking the fans to boycott this game and instead spend the money you would have spent on this game donating to charity. I didn't want the world. I didn't ask for too much. I was just asking for a decent, dignified living wage. What they did was legal, but it was immoral."
The voice actor said that she rejected the role in order to stand in solidarity with "people all over the world who do not get paid properly for their talent,” claiming that she suffered from a combination of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts over the matter, worrying that she would be out of work. Taylor added that she reached out to Kamiya concerning the offer before going public and was told that $4,000 was the best that PlatinumGames could do. Hale has been seen liking posts on Twitter that were made in support of Taylor, but the voice actor so far has refrained from comment, suggesting that she could be subject to a non-disclosure agreement.