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

[Ben]

@-nSega54-

That would be the most probable scenario: Bayonetta 2 was most likely pitched to all the major contenders and only Nintendo decided to go with it. I do believe Nagoshi once stated that Yakuza's exclusivity had more to do with Microsoft's non-chalant atitude for anything that isn't their own ever-shrinking Microsoft Studios IPs. So I do concede that that might've been what happened behind closed doors.

Which is why I think there is a positive aspect to this and I'll try to get to the bottom of this before I blow another fuse... Maybe this should be taken by Sony and Microsoft as a wake-up call, especially Microsoft who thinks that three months of limited exclusivity is enough to justify buying an Xbox 360.

Right, I mean, that's essentially what I'm arguing. That Sega is experiencing major cutbacks to their games business and the execs backed away at the prospect of the money they'd have to put into continuing to develop a retail game that costs what Bayonetta 2 will cost, and a game that, again, will not be able to be rehashed every year or so. So they ended development and put the game up for grabs. That to me makes the most sense, I can't picture Nintendo approaching Sega out of the blue and going, "hey, you know that IP, Bayonetta? Can we publish it instead?" Doesn't usually work that way. Oftentimes when another publisher picks up a game, it's because the game was being offered.


Like I said a few times on the Sega forums, I think it was a pretty ballsey move on Nintendo's part and definitely something that, if they have more surprises like it to be revealed, spells pretty good things for their next generation.

[ROJM]

That depends if you believe the game had just started development. I very much doubt that, especially with all the comments from various PG staff eluding to the game being in dev in the last two years. If anything the game probably got saved. Much like what happened with ALIENS COLONIAL MARINES a game that was meant to seen release just to see it put back most likely to see it released on the Wii U.


The first thing,the PS3 version port was heavily criticised for various reasons which is probably something PG wants to avoid since they themselves dont seem to work on a two system dev basis but a lead system basis while outsourcing the port to someone else. An exclusive was inevitable.
Second if anyone look at the sales of BAYONETTA the game was more succesful on one platform and in one region.

 Thirdly as someone eluded to Sega hasn't the money to pay for a big second party game deal anymore. If anything its not like Nintendo rescued the project from Sega, some of this game's development would have been funded by Sega anyway, and Sega will make money from this game. Remember Mario and Sonic's money mostly went to Sega even though it was using Nintendo characters, The big N got a decent cut from it from the license of the characters and the publishing third party license cut, as well as shifting more systems from the game pack ins. But that game wasn't a huge seller in Japan where Nintendo had the publishing rights. The difference is now is Nintendo will make a good sum of money with Bayoneta 2 worldwide(if they are truly publishing the game in all regions) and Sega will get their cut. But if anything this deal is more remisent of what happened with REZ HD which was licensed by Sega to Q entertainment. Anyway for all we know Sega may be publishing the game in Japan which is where the first title had the majority of its sales.

Forth:This does not indicate that the relationship between Sega and PG has gone sour it more or less indicates its still healthly since many big publishers in a similar situation to Sega's, wouldn't have bothered to shop it around and more or less can the project and kept the code especially if its a game being made on a second party basis. If anyone thinks PG shopped a game around without Sega 's involvement are living in lala land. It wouldn't be called Bayonetta 2 for one thing. It also (even though it makes me sick to say it) eludes to how close Sega and Nintendo are.

The risk is of course that Bayonetta has to prove it can draw people to buy the system just to play that game because now its an exclusive. That is what the title has to and yet to prove.

The good thing is that if the game is a bigger hit it will still benefit Sega in the long run.If its not or medium, Sega hasn't lost much. Sega benefits without taking much of the risk. Which sadly is what the third party Sega has now become.

[TimmiT]

Inaba says that Bayonetta 2 wouldn't exist without Nintendo:

"Would Bayonetta 2 not exist without Nintendo? The answer is yes," says Atsushi Inaba, executive director at Platinum Games. He tells Polygon that Nintendo, the sequel's publisher, was a key partner in getting the game made.

"We are not viewing this as a change of platform," Inaba told Polygon in an interview at Tokyo Game Show. "We were looking for a partner to create Bayonetta 2 and Nintendo was a strong, cooperative partner that was willing to create and grow Bayonetta 2 together [with us]. As a result the platform became the Wii U."

In the wake of Bayonetta 2's announcement as an exclusive for the Wii U, some fans vocalized their displeasure, hoping that the sequel would be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 like the original Bayonetta. Developers at Platinum Games said in a series of statements this week that it does not want to alienate its fans.

Sega was responsible for publishing the original Bayonetta, but the company has since scaled back on the number of titles it publishes. Platinum Games and Sega's most recent collaboration, Anarchy Reigns, has not been published outside of Japan, a source of frustration for Inaba. He says he still doesn't know when Anarchy Reigns will be released overseas, as Sega has not offered him an update.

Regardless of the change of platform from PS3 and Xbox 360 to Wii U, Inaba says it won't impact Bayonetta 2's core gameplay.

"We create the basic framework of our games on the PC, so even though the hardware changes it doesn't influence the creation of our games. We've already developed our own engine to work with multiple platforms.

"Because of the Wii U GamePad, we are putting extra thought into how to use these differentiating features," Inaba said. "There's a difference in the game design side, but we are enjoying the challenges of creating games for new hardware."

Nintendo and Platinum Games haven't revealed much about Bayonetta 2, releasing only a short teaser trailer. The trailer echoes the teaser of the original Bayonetta with a few key differences: a crescent moon replaces the full moon, red tones are replaced by blues, and Bayonetta's enemy now rebuffs her attacks, implying a more formidable foe. Inaba explains why the developer chose to release a nearly identical trailer for the sequel.

"Toward the end of development of Bayonetta, I was talking with Kamiya-san and Hashimoto-san, and they said 'If Bayonetta 2 ever happens, we want the teaser trailer to be the same as [the first] Bayonetta,'" he said. "We wanted to make it the same because Bayonetta is a title that has been loved by many people and we wanted fans to say 'Oh! Bayonetta's back again!'"

Inaba wouldn't offer details on what's coming in the sequel, instead asking fans to speculate about what they've shown so far.

"All of the new things you see in the trailer, we can't talk about at all at this point. We're leaving it up to your imagination."

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/9/22/3371474/bayonetta-2-would-not-exist-without-nintendo-platinum-games-wii-u

I guess SEGA didn't want or didn't have enough money to publish it.

[ROJM]

Or the money to complete the main production. Sega didn't have the trouble it does now after BAYONETTA sales figures first came in. But the re negotiating the contracts with PG especially when the first game was successful as well as the downturn in fiscal revenue kinda put paid to that.

[Radrappy]

well there you have it.  This sounds like sega dropping the ball and nothing else.  So much for the evil nintendo bribing them theory. 

[Ben]

Yeah it was ridiculous to assume that.....Nintendo would never presume to take the game from Sega. Sega canned the game, offered it, and Nintendo took it.

[max_cady]

The interview doesn't really go into a whole lot of detail about how Platinum Games and SEGA's relantionship having gone sour. Because it just seems like the only awkward situation I see here is Anarchy Reign's release date.

By the way, who came up with that theory about "Nintendo's bribe"? It's a just business decision. Now let's see if it pays off for them.

Inaba does make one remark that gave me a sliver of hope, he says that their game engine allows them to port to several platforms (I assume both versions of Anarchy Reigns were developed in-house). Hope, man...

[Pao]

By the way, who came up with that theory about "Nintendo's bribe"? It's a just business decision. Now let's see if it pays off for them.

I hope you realize that paying for exclusivity is also "a business decision".
I'm more surprised with the fact that some people refuse to believe that Nintendo would resort to such decisions... "NINTENDO IS NOT EVIL AS U THINK!"

Although PG doesn't explicitly say it was cancelled, its clear now that Sega didn't have intentions to publish this, and I never completely wrote off that possibility in earlier discussions, my main point was that people shouldn't take rumors as facts before a confirmation... now that there is one, I'd gladly eat my hat.

[Chaosmaster8753]

If it wasn't cancelled, what really motivated SEGA to not want to publish Bayo 2?

[nuckles87]

Well, they don't say it was canceled, but that doesn't mean it wasn't. The interview was exceptionally vague on the details in that regard.

Of course, it's possible that PG had done some pre-production work on the game, pitched it to SEGA, and been turned down, or perhaps shopped the game around to other publishers as some here have suggested.

We may never know all the details.

[TimmiT]

And now to remove any hope that this game will ever be released on non-Nintendo platforms:

Yup. RT @mjpingram Are there any Nintendo producers working on Bayonetta 2. I know it's a common practice for games they publish.

https://twitter.com/PG_kamiya/status/249401468434669568

[Nameless 24]

If it wasn't cancelled, what really motivated SEGA to not want to publish Bayo 2?

Possibly being brassic (a term we use in Britain to mean skint = no money).

As long as SEGA benefits from this decision, then I can't see this being that bad a thing...if SEGA does well, then they can make more games.

[ROJM]

If it wasn't cancelled, what really motivated SEGA to not want to publish Bayo 2?

If Sega didn't want a sequel to this game then Nintendo would never been able to publish this sequel in the first place. Sega owns the IP, not Platinum and not Nintendo. If Sega said "were not interested in publishing this game" and didn't allow PG to use the name, characters and their likeness then PG would have essentially had to create a brand new game with brand new characters but in the same style. But that has not happened.
Furthermore, Nintendo would have to have licensed the IP from Sega in order to use it. So Sega gets money in that way, they would also as advisers can say how they want the game to be presented among other things. You've all heard how the guy from Sumo Digital in making Sonic All stars had to be advised on how to use certain Sega characters from certain Sega teams.  Its no different here.  Another thing that's important is that Sega especially in the last few years and specifically in japan have been self promoting other franchises by using them as cameos in other games. Most of them had titles which are still ongoing or about to be used. Weve seen Valkria Chronicles, Phantasy Star Portable ,Virtua Fighter as well as Sonic appear in numerous cameos as well as characters from Sakura Taisen which has been absent for a while popping up, and that IP has definatly ben revisited lately by Sega in the former BORDERBREAK X SAKURA TAISEN title. Bayonetta recently appeared in two other Sega games if you exclude Anarchy reigns, so that kinda indicates looking at the recent context on how Sega Japan has been using their IPs for cameos lately that they had every intention of promoting and using the character. The bad fiscal returns among other things resulted in the lack of funds for development and contracts with PG was what got in the way. Not a lack of desire of not wanting to publish the character.  If anything Bayonetta 2 is one of the lucky ones, because there were several in game development titles from Sega that wasn't.

[nuckles87]

Yeah . A shame we'll never know what those titles were.

E3 2012 was so....barren.

[Pao]

Interview with Minami:

Discussing the studio's relationship with SEGA, who it signed a four-game deal with in 2008, Minami said that teaming up with SEGA was a great idea "at the time".

"And it is important to give them their due: we couldn't have made the games we did without them. There were certainly good parts and bad parts to the relationship. Perhaps they did not realise how good our games were. But overall it was the right thing to do.

"There's no doubt that we are in SEGA's debt for a few things," he continued. "Thanks to SEGA, we were able to grow as a company and we're pleased about that. So not it's time for us to do new things."

http://www.videogamer.com/wiiu/bayonetta_2/news/platinum_games_in_talks_with_western_publishers_over_future_projects.html