I have spent a few weeks talking to video-game voice actors, the real humans who bring verve and humour to our gaming experiences. Some of them have won major awards for their work. None of them have had a meaningful pay rise in over 10 years, despite the industry’s exponential growth. They are furious – and they have every right to be.
Over the weekend, Hellena Taylor, who played the lead character in Bayonetta, Platinum Games’ stylish action series about a hypersexualised angel-killing witch who fights with extreme flair, went public with her frustrations. She says she was offered just $4,000 (£3,500) to reprise her role in the third game, out this month. In a series of videos she urged fans to boycott Bayonetta 3, and she has spoken about how being underpaid and overworked has affected her mental health. “I didn’t want the world. I didn’t ask for too much,” she said. “I was just asking for a decent, dignified, living wage.”
