Fans have been waiting for the release of Bayonetta 3 for so long that it’s beginning to feel like a mythical sequel. With that in mind, patient fans may have to wait just a little bit longer. Hideki Kamiya, director of Bayonetta, recently confirmed that the highly anticipated title hasn’t been canceled, but it won’t be released anytime soon.
Bayonetta 3 was initially revealed during The Game Awards 2017 with a teaser trailer, but there has been no concrete news about the upcoming game since then. Developer PlatinumGames has been noticeably silent about the title’s development, and given the fact that it has released several other games since then, many have begun to wonder if Bayonetta 3 has been canceled.
Thanks to Kamiya’s recent interview, it’s been confirmed that this isn’t the case—the game’s development is just simply taking a really long time. Kamiya recently had an interview with VideoGamesChronicle, where he teased the game saying that there could be news about the highly awaited third installment this year.
“It’s not really our position to say, but… it’s January. We’ve got to have something come out, right? I guess it’s safe to expect that something will come out. There’s still a lot of the year left is what I’m saying,” said Kamiya.
Kamiya then goes on to say that fans should just forget about Bayonetta 3 for now, so that fans will be pleasantly surprised once an update does get released. He states that he understands the fans’ excitement, but given the current situation, he recommends that “we should all reset and forget about Bayonetta 3” so that “it will be a nice surprise” when PlatinumGames makes an announcement.
We’re hoping this means that at least a tidbit of Bayonetta 3 news will be offered during a Nintendo Direct this year or some other Nintendo-related event. However, it all depends on how far along the game’s development is at this point in time. If we’re lucky, Bayonetta 3 could be released by 2022—it might even take advantage of the Nintendo Switch Pro that has been rumored about recently.
For now, though, it’s best that fans follow Kamiya’s advice and try to erase Bayonetta 3 from their thoughts until further notice, at least until the developer reveals more information.
Given the controversy around Cyberpunk 2077, it’s probably best that PlatinumGames is taking its time working on Bayonetta 3 and avoiding any kind of preview while the game isn’t ready yet. Besides, it’s possible that the developer encountered some problems along the way. Perhaps the game had to undergo some kind of reboot, which slowed down its development.
After all, it’s highly unlikely that Bayonetta 3 would take this long to be released if everything has been going well, unless PlatinumGames is trying to create a truly ambitious Bayonetta game that has never-before-seen elements.
While Kamiya previously said before the end of 2020 that the game’s development is going well right now, there’s a chance that this wasn’t exactly the case for the entire development process. Besides, PlatinumGames has a lot on its plate right now too, as it’s busily working on other titles as well, like Astral Chain and The Wonderful 101.
