Hideki Kamiya reflects on Bayonetta 3 voice actor change controversy

Hideki Kamiya, who was a writer and supervising director on Bayonetta 3, has reflected on the controversial voice acting situation that happened with Helena Taylor.

For the third entry in the series, Jennifer Hale took over the role of Bayonetta. Taylor had voiced the character up until that point. PlatinumGames indicated at the time that “various circumstances” led to the change.

Kamiya took issue with the knee-jerk reaction that happened at the time. Rather than wanting to hear about the other side of the story, people were immediately angry and threw a lot of hate his way – even Hale saw backlash. While Kamiya was trying to block people on social media, he “couldn’t keep up”. Some people later deleted their comments after things settled down, but never apologized.

Kamiya’s full words:

“What I was thinking at the time was… Well, I don’t know how it is in your country right now – but here in Japan, it’s kind of a social issue. Whenever something happens involving public figures, the media covers it, and then people on the sidelines just go crazy over it. Whenever I see those kinds of stories – magazines, newspapers, TV… I always think they’re only showing one side of the story. Like, ‘This person had some conflict with that person.’ And then you see a headline like, ‘This person did something terrible to that one!’ And people react like, ‘Unbelievable! That’s outrageous!’

But I think unless you also hear the other side, you can’t really understand or judge what actually happened. And honestly, even judging other people in the first place – is that really our place? Like, chatting over a meal with friends and going, ‘Did you hear about that thing?’ Then saying things like, ‘I think this side was right,’ or ‘No, I’m with the other one.’ That kind of conversation’s totally fine between friends. But now we’ve got social media where everyone can share their thoughts… And when people just take the visible parts and flat-out decide, ‘This guy’s the bad one!’ and start sending them hate – I think that’s totally messed up. We see gossip news all the time in Japan.

Hmm… How can I put this… Even when I see that kind of news, I don’t instantly go, ‘What!? That’s unforgivable!’ or ‘Screw that guy!’ That’s just not me. Maybe I’m just a bit cynical, but… even when someone says, ‘He said something awful…’ I don’t immediately go, ‘That’s terrible! How dare he!’

First I go, ‘Oh really?’ And then I start thinking: ‘Why did he say that?’ or ‘What led up to that’ ‘What was going on behind the scenes?’ That’s the part I’m curious about first. So when all this stuff happened to me, it just made me believe that even more.

It was wild. My Twitter timeline was just flying by in real time – it was insane. Just scrolling nonstop. I kept blocking non-stop, though. But even my speed couldn’t keep up. So I was like, ‘What!? They’re coming in faster than I can block them!?’ WHAT!?

Anyway, that’s not the point. People were saying whatever they wanted. Even famous people were jumping in and throwing comments at me. And then, once things calmed down, I went back and looked – and they had quietly deleted their tweets.

Hey, apologize to me first before you do anything sneaky. THAT’S SOME REAL COWARD S***. You posted it publicly, on social media, right? So if you were wrong, you should publicly admit it. Say, ‘Hey, I messed up’ – own it.

At least that’s how I try to be. I may act like this, but I do have my own code. If I’m not wrong? Then no, I absolutely won’t apologize. No chance. But when I am wrong, I’ll own it properly. Man, that was SERIOUSLY LAME. I’m the kind of guy who really holds onto stuff like that. I’ll probably keep bringing it up forever.

Yup. That’s what I wanted to say about that question. That’s how I felt.”

Just before the launch of Bayonetta 3, we did get some additional insight into what happened through media reports. While Taylor initially claimed that she was offered $4,000 to return as Bayonetta, it seems the actual amount was between $3,000 and $4,000 per session for five sessions. However, she instead asked for a six-figure payment plus royalties. Taylor denied this, but then claimed that the initial offer from PlatinumGames was $10,000 plus an extra amount after reaching out to Kamiya. She later said the final offer was $4,000 to “voice some lines”.