SEGA rips our hearts out: Bayonetta 2 is a Wii U exclusive

[Ben]

"The project was dead"
"Bayo 2 was canceled !1!"
"Nintendo salvaged the game!1!"

Their source? "Rumors".

I'm going by Play Magazine, who said a Bayonetta announcement was planned months ago (not from Nintendo and not for the Wii U) but was scrapped. So there's truth to the cancellation.

Nintendo picked up the game and of course they're going to release it on their own system.

[Pao]

I'm going by Play Magazine, who said a Bayonetta announcement was planned months ago (not from Nintendo and not for the Wii U) but was scrapped. So there's truth to the cancellation.

Nintendo picked up the game and of course they're going to release it on their own system.

Source?
All I remember are rumors with no confirmation behind them...And believe me I follow this game's news very closely.

[Barry the Nomad]

Was it cancelled and Nintendo picked it up?

Or was it set for a 360/PS3 release and Nintendo paid SEGA to let them take the publishing job off their shoulders and to make it an exclusive?

Thats my thing. Right now Nintendo is being painted as a savior. As a white knight who saved the IP. But we don't know if thats the case.

[Pao]

Or was it set for a 360/PS3 release and Nintendo paid SEGA to let them take the publishing job off their shoulders and to make it an exclusive?

That is the logical explanation if we go by the facts and not the rumours.

The problem is that people everywhere already accepted those rumors as fact, somehow. They'd like to think it was cancelled, and Nintendo saved it from SEGA's evil clutches.

[Radrappy]

That is the logical explanation if we go by the facts and not the rumours.

The problem is that people everywhere already accepted those rumors as fact, somehow. They'd like to think it was cancelled, and Nintendo saved it from SEGA's evil clutches.

what.  we all know that sega was undergoing some serious restructuring and that numerous titles had been cancelled.  It's not a stretch to assume B2 was in fact, one of those abandoned projects.  A couple months later it resurfaces under the Nintendo label.  I love this image of Nintendo as the kind of company that greedily buys franchises to make them exclusive.  because they sure have a history of that.  Last I checked that was Microsoft's game. 

[MadeManG74]

I just woke up at 4 30am to a text message about this news. I'm not even mad that I need to buy a wiiu, I just want that bayonetta 2

[Pao]

what.  we all know that sega was undergoing some serious restructuring and that numerous titles had been cancelled.  It's not a stretch to assume B2 was in fact, one of those abandoned projects.  A couple months later it resurfaces under the Nintendo label.  I love this image of Nintendo as the kind of company that greedily buys franchises to make them exclusive.  because they sure have a history of that.  Last I checked that was Microsoft's game.

Its a stretch really, Bayonetta was really successful for SEGA, it even sold more than the last Total War game, a series Sega is committed to release in retail stores, I don't see Sega cancelling this one, especially in mid development as the rumours claim.

Even if it was "not a stretch", how the hell does that count as a confirmation? It's still rumors.

[batfax]

New, interesting system gets new, interesting games.

Sounds good.

[Aki-at]

Its a stretch really, Bayonetta was really successful for SEGA, it even sold more than the last Total War game, a series Sega is committed to release in retail stores, I don't see Sega cancelling this one, especially in mid development as the rumours claim.

Even if it was "not a stretch", how the hell does that count as a confirmation? It's still rumors.

Add to that, Yakuza, a big HD single platform only game, is just about to get the seventh entry in it's series and has failed to sell over a million since 2006. Plus I do believe Bayonetta did around 1.2 million and in the same period Sonic Generation did 1.6 million.

It is all rather strange... It is not like Bayonetta did badly in Japan either, it did over 300k!

[MadeManG74]

Nobody posted the trailer yet?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hirJAOc2D3k[/youtube]

[Barry the Nomad]

Hm, guess I'll have to pre-order a Wii U now!


I'm joking. The game hasn't even a release date yet and people are typing that sort of nonsense. If Bayo 2 was the ONLY thing convincing you to pre-order, then why not wait til the game releases to buy the console? Who knows, it might be cheaper, or sold used, by that point and you can save yourself from buying a console you only want for the purpose of one game.

This also assumes that the game will be great. I'll admit, the fan in me says "of course it'll be great!" but what if it's... not great? What if it doesn't stack up to the first and is merely decent? Going to be very interesting to see the first reviews. 

[Radrappy]

Add to that, Yakuza, a big HD single platform only game, is just about to get the seventh entry in it's series and has failed to sell over a million since 2006. Plus I do believe Bayonetta did around 1.2 million and in the same period Sonic Generation did 1.6 million.

It is all rather strange... It is not like Bayonetta did badly in Japan either, it did over 300k!

@ both of you

Yes but ultimately sega was acting as publisher for the title.  Who knows how that revenue was being split between Sega and PG.  At the end of the day, sega profits more from games developed by its own studios, that much is for sure. 

Also, of course Nintendo paid for Bayonetta.  Anyone would have had to pay to publish someone else's IP.  Sony/Microsoft/Activision/ubisoft/whoever would have had to pay as well.  I suppose it's possible that Nintendo outbid other publishers for the title but I would still be surprised if anyone else had lifted a finger to acquire it.  For all its success the original was still inarguably a niche title.  Sony and Microsoft don't need Bayonetta.  But Nintendo does.  They are trying to convince people that the Wiiu is more than a casual gamer's toy after all.

[MadeManG74]

Hm, guess I'll have to pre-order a Wii U now!


I'm joking. The game hasn't even a release date yet and people are typing that sort of nonsense. If Bayo 2 was the ONLY thing convincing you to pre-order, then why not wait til the game releases to buy the console? Who knows, it might be cheaper, or sold used, by that point and you can save yourself from buying a console you only want for the purpose of one game.

This also assumes that the game will be great. I'll admit, the fan in me says "of course it'll be great!" but what if it's... not great? What if it doesn't stack up to the first and is merely decent? Going to be very interesting to see the first reviews.

Stop being so negative, why won't you give a Sega game a chance? 

I do agree with you though, I haven't heard anything about release date yet, so I'm not about to pre-order the console just yet. I don't think it's likely to sell out anway.

If there is some really good pre-order bundle or offer I might bite, but otherwise I'll wait and see what the lineup looks like.

I also share your concerns. I think it's most likely to be awesome, but look at how shit DMC2 was after the brilliant DMC 1 for example. Also, I didn't think of this until later, but the Wii U controller looks shit, so hopefully they have a good controller come out for it too.

[Aki-at]

Yes but ultimately sega was acting as publisher for the title.  Who knows how that revenue was being split between Sega and PG.  At the end of the day, sega profits more from games developed by its own studios, that much is for sure. 

Bayonetta sold over 900k in it's first three months on sale in Europe and US. It sold 300k in Japan (Obviously that figure comes from Sept 09 - Dec 09) there is no way at 1.2 million SEGA would not be happy with the sales, especially as Vanquish had a target of over a million and both Bayonetta and Vanquish had similar budgets from the looks of it.

Also here is the interview where Hayes went and said he wanted to make Bayonetta into a series

http://www.thetanooki.com/2010/03/22/sega-looking-to-sequel-ize-bayonetta-avp-alpha-protocol/

He speaks about Alpha Protocol too, but we know what happened there. This interview came a while after Bayonetta was released so good indication that SEGA had plans on making a Bayonetta 2 already.

[Radrappy]

Bayonetta sold over 900k in it's first three months on sale in Europe and US. It sold 300k in Japan (Obviously that figure comes from Sept 09 - Dec 09) there is no way at 1.2 million SEGA would not be happy with the sales, especially as Vanquish had a target of over a million and both Bayonetta and Vanquish had similar budgets from the looks of it.

Also here is the interview where Hayes went and said he wanted to make Bayonetta into a series

http://www.thetanooki.com/2010/03/22/sega-looking-to-sequel-ize-bayonetta-avp-alpha-protocol/

He speaks about Alpha Protocol too, but we know what happened there. This interview came a while after Bayonetta was released so good indication that SEGA had plans on making a Bayonetta 2 already.

Great, but we still have no idea what the fiscal relationship between Sega and Pg was.  Also things have changed drastically since this interview.  The past year has not been kind to Sega and Platinum Games is now developing for other companies.  What I'm getting at is Bayonetta 2's cancellation is not far fetched.