In a series of 15 Tweets today, Platinum Games’ Hideki Kamiya laid out the process that led to the Bayonetta series coming to Nintendo consoles. It included a brief description of Platinum Games’ role as a developer that works under licenses, and how Bayonetta 2 and 3 came to be, with the series finding its new home on Wii U and eventually the Switch.
He starts with the original Bayonetta. It was funded by its publisher Sega, and Sega owns the rights for the game. It was originally going to be an Xbox 360 exclusively, but Sega eventually had another company develop a PS3 port, which was also eventually done for the Steam version released last year. He then goes on to mention that all of these versions are owned by Sega.
Meanwhile, Bayonetta 2 was originally funded by Sega as well. However, after “circumstances at Sega” the funding and project as a whole were halted. Eventually Nintendo stepped in, continuing funding and allowing them to finish the game. Because of that, the game is jointly owned by both Sega and Nintendo, who made the decision to make the game Wii U exclusive at launch. The Wii U port of the original was also funded by Nintendo, who also allowed Sega to use the Japanese voice track from the Wii U version in the Steam port. Nintendo’s funding was done with Sega’s permission, as the owner of the Bayonetta IP.
Bayonetta 3 was made from the start with Nintendo’s funding, and according to Kamiya, it was that which allowed them to kick off the project. Sega and Nintendo still both own the rights, and they decided to release the game for Switch.
Kamiya finishes off by saying that game development is a business, with different companies’ circumstances and strategies dictating whether or not games get made. Even so, he believes that everyone involved is dedicated to delivering the best possible result. That’s his philosophy, and what he says he plans to bring to Bayonetta 3. The fruits of his labor remain to be seen, and the third game has no set release date, but the first two games will be released on Switch on February 16.
