The Bayonetta voice actor dispute just got more complicated

pcgamer.com:

Over the weekend, actor Hellena Taylor said that Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya offered her a flat rate of $4,000 to reprise her role as Bayonetta's voice in the upcoming Bayonetta 3, a lowball she said she declined. Taylor's statement has now been rebutted by two sources who spoke anonymously to Bloomberg(opens in new tab), which says it also obtained documentation related to the negotiations.

According to Bloomberg's sources, «Platinum Games sought to hire Taylor for at least five sessions, each paying $3,000 to $4,000 for four hours in the studio.» The total fee would've been at least $15,000, if that were the case. Taylor, Bloomberg's sources say, rejected the offer and «asked for a six-figure sum as well as residuals.» In the end, Platinum hired prolific voice actor Jennifer Hale, best known as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, to take over the role.

Taylor told Bloomberg that its sources are telling «an absolute lie» and that Platinum Games is trying to save face. Platinum Games has not officially responded to Taylor's claims. (Unless you count Kamiya calling Taylor's videos «sad and deplorable» on Twitter before briefly deactivating his account.)

In 2016, voice actors represented by the SAG-AFTRA union, including Hale, went on strike in an effort to secure better pay for videogame acting work. As Bloomberg says, they hoped to secure residuals in the form of bonuses when games they appear in are especially successful. They didn't win that fight, but did secure bonuses based on the number of sessions a role requires. In 2020, that contract between SAG-AFTRA and nine major game publishers was extended until November 7 of this year.

According to Bloomberg, three sources say that Platinum Games used union actors for