Hideki Kamiya, director of Bayonetta 3made several posts on Twitter where he talked about Bayonetta’s IP, who owns it, and what led to the third game ending up being announced exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
Kamiya explained that Sega owns the rights to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions of Bayonetta. When they started making the second game, they received funds from Sega to create something cross-platform, but the project was put on hold “due to circumstances at Sega”. Then Nintendo came along and continued to fund the game, allowing Platinum Games to finish it. Because of this, the rights of Bayonetta 2 are from Sega and Nintendo, who decided the game should be made for the Wii U.
When we started making Bayonetta 2, we initially received funds from Sega to develop the game for multiple platforms, but the project was halted due to circumstances at Sega. Nintendo then stepped in to continue funding the game, allowing us to finish it. (6/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
As such, the rights belong to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided the game should be made for Wii U. (7/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
The port of the first Bayonetta for Wii U was also financed by Nintendo and the company allowed to use the Japanese dubbing created for the Wii U version, within the PC version.
Nintendo was also kind enough to fund a port of Bayo 1 for Wii U, and they even allowed us to use the Japanese voice track we created for the Wii U version in the PC version of Bayo 1 as well. (8/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
In case of Bayonetta 3it was decided early on that the game would be developed using funding from Nintendo, as without Nintendo’s help “we wouldn’t have been able to start this project”.
As for Bayonetta 3, it was decided from the start that the game was going to be developed using Nintendo’s funding. Without their help, we would not have been able to kick off this project. (10/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
The rights to the game belong to Sega and Nintendo, who decided that it should be made for Switch, said Kamiya.
All of the rights still belong to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided that the game should be made for Switch. (11/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
The director also said that it took some time for the production of Bayonetta 3 was approved and will make the game “as good as it can be”.
I cannot express how happy I am that we get to make Bayonetta 3, and we intend to do everything within our power to make it as good as it can be. That’s all we can do, and we consider it our greatest mission. (14/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
It took a while for production of Bayonetta 3 to be okayed, but now that it has kicked off, I hope it will turn into a wonderful encounter for all of you. (15/15)
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018
Bayonetta 3 does not yet have a release date.
Via DualShockers
