Just in case anyone was still unconvinced about this game's development crisis and Nintendo's place in the affair, this interview with Kamiya was released today in which he makes the situation explicit:
http://nintendoeverything.com/kamiya-again-comments-on-bayonetta-2s-initially-troubled-fate-and-how-nintendo-saved-the-game/"When development had progressed to a certain degree,
in SEGA’s situation it turned into “This isn’t a good plan”, so development halted temporarily.Without funding we didn’t have the possibility to continue development, but we wanted to get this partially developed Bayonetta 2 available to the public one way or another. So we offered it to various publishers, but as it is a big title, we couldn’t find a partner company. Finally,
Bayonetta 2 was about to get terminated completely, when…
Nintendo came in and lent a hand and we were able to restart the development we so desired. Finally the game was released last week, so in five years, we were able to make Bayonetta 2 available to the public.
Knowing those circumstances, if someone is still angry for heading towards Nintendo, I wonder what’s the reason for that, wouldn’t you tell me in a way that is easy to understand?"
so there you have it. Sega was fully prepared to trash the game completely before Nintendo swooped in and saved it.