Japanese game developer and Bayonetta 3 creator, Hideki Kamiya deleted his Twitter account, following recent backlash when lead voice actress, Helena Taylor, alleged Platinum Games underpaid her to voice their upcoming game once more.
Fans discovered that his account was gone from Twitter nearly 24 hours since Taylor released her video revealing why she left the game. Prior to the account’s removal, the video game developer was blocking all of his fans who came after him on social media, demanding to pay their voice actors a better wage.
Kamiya’s Twitter account was allegedly known for being xenophobic by fans, as he would block anyone who does not tweet him in Japanese. The blocking spree amplified since Taylor’s video, to the point where his Twitter page was temporarily restricted due to unusual activity.
It was reported back in October by Comicbook.com that Bayonetta’s voice actress will be recast in the third installment of the game. Just weeks before the game’s official release, Taylor released a video yesterday on Twitter, where she broke her NDA and revealed why she’s not returning in Bayonetta 3. She said that Platinum Games offered her $4000 in total to voice the lead character in Bayonetta 3.
She believed that her work was being undervalued by the company when they gave her that final offer. While she did acknowledge what the company did was not illegal, she believed it was “immortal”. She ended the video by encouraging fans to boycott the game and give that money to charity.
Fans rallied in support of Taylor, who also believed that she should be paid better. Fans have also decided to either pirate the game or buy it second hand, to send a message to Platinum Games using their wallets. Some have also announced that they’ve canceled their pre-orders in response to the recent controversy.
At the same time, Kamiya claimed what Taylor said was a lie, but didn’t back up his side of the argument. Instead, he threaten to block anyone who “broke his rules.”
There were calls recently by voice actors across various industries for better payment from companies who claimed that it can’t pay them a decent wage, despite earning millions. Back in March 2022, voice actors in the anime industry revealed how little they were paid by anime production companies and hoped the industry would do better.
Bayonetta 3 will be released on Nintendo Switch on Oct. 28, 2022.