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Overwatch’s Lunar New Year Event Begins This Week

By
Aletheia
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Events hosted by Blizzard’s team-based multiplayer game Overwatch always bring fun and excitement to the community of fans. When a new event gets announced, fans almost always flock to the game to see what kind of cosmetic or brawl will be available for that particular festivity.

The next expected Overwatch event is Lunar New Year Event, and according to a tweet on Overwatch’s official Twitter account, it will be taking place very soon. Blizzard previously teased the event through a piece of Hanzo artwork posted on New Year’s Day, with the character standing near an Ox.

However, little has been said about the event since then, so much so that fans began to worry if Overwatch was going to celebrate Lunar New Year this 2021. Not to mention that the first-person shooter usually celebrated the event around mid to late January. Fortunately, the official tweet confirmed that their worries were unfounded, and that the festivities will still continue.

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According to the tweet, the Year of the Ox event will officially begin on February 4, 2021. In other words, players will finally be able to experience all the new content and features that come with this event within the week.

Like usual, the event will be celebrated for three weeks, with the festivities concluding on February 25, 2021. That said, the teaser trailer doesn’t really give us a clue on what skins will be offered and what they’ll look like. What it does give us, though, is a highlight of the popular mech pilot D.Va. The intro has her ejecting out her mech, and then snapping her fingers which caused the mech to explode into fireworks.

The teaser and the upcoming event will surely be a good distraction for the players who were upset with Blizzard’s decision to nerf a couple of Overwatch characters. As for what else the developer has up its sleeve for this year’s Lunar New Year, our guess is as good as anyone’s.

If we use the previous events as a basis, though, we expect that players will still be able to obtain skins via weekly win challenges. Perhaps other cosmetics can be unlocked through lootboxes as well. Not only that, it’s highly possible that the skins from prior Lunar New Year events will be made available this year too.

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The Lunar New Year events from previous years were incredibly fun, and even offered unique skins like Sombra’s Face Changer. As such, players hope that the lineup of outfits and other cosmetic items for this year’s event will also stand out.

On the other hand, Overwatch players also expect the return of Capture the Flag for this year’s seasonal brawl. After all, this is a recurring mode that always appears during every Lunar New Year event. As such, it’s possible that a competitive and/or casual version of this mode will be available this year. In fact, maybe the new Kanezaka map will be redesigned to fit the mode and the event’s overall theme.

For fans who are waiting for more news about what Overwatch has planned for the future, the BlizzConline showcase for Overwatch 2 is drawing closer and closer. It’s just a matter of time before we find out what Blizzard has in store for us.

Astral Chain IP Now Owned by Nintendo

By
Aletheia
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0
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As PlatinumGames has confirmed recently, Astral Chain’s intellectual property is officially owned by Nintendo now. This was further confirmed when the game’s copyright logo removed PlatinumGames. For those who don’t know, Astral Chain is a Nintendo Switch exclusive title from PlatinumGames that was initially released back in 2019, which was well-received by the community.

The action-adventure hack and slash takes place in a futuristic city, where humanity—or what was left of it—joined forces to fight an invasion of interdimensional creatures. Fans play as a police officer, who is bonded with a sentient weapon known as Legion. As for its gameplay, it plays similarly to Bayonetta or any other title developed by PlatinumGames.

However, there’s just one difference: players have to control two characters simultaneously. Specifically, they control not only the protagonist, but the Legion as well. Together, they can perform incredible attacks and deal damage to invading enemies. Astral Chain reached a status of high acclaim—a huge win for PlatinumGames, as the game even gave the company its very first #1 hit in the United Kingdom.

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That being said, it was brought to the fans’ attention that recently, Astral Chain’s copyright logo on the official PlatinumGames website was altered. To be more specific, PlatinumGames’ name was no longer on the copyright logo, yet Nintendo’s name remained.

Some believed this to be some kind of mistake at first, especially since the developer’s name was still present in other sites. Perhaps there was some kind of error on the PlatinumGames website specifically. However, PlatinumGames Studio Head Atsushi Inaba confirmed in an interview with VideoGamesChronicle that the change was, in fact, correct. He also confirmed that Nintendo now owns the IP for the game, but he didn’t explain this further.

As such, fans had to resort to theories and speculations for the cause of this change. After all, it can’t be denied that this is a strange occurrence. With that in mind, fans have formulated a theory that does seem plausible.

PlatinumGames revealed that the Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101: Remastered was launched last year, and that it was going to be released on PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. This caught fans by surprise, as the original The Wonderful 101 was exclusively released on the Wii U.

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As such, fans believe that PlatinumGames gave up the Astral Chain IP and handed it over to Nintendo in exchange for The Wonderful 101. If this is the case, then it’s possible that the deal was only secured recently, which explains the removal of PlatinumGames from the copyright logo.

That being said, it’s worth mentioning that this is pure speculation at this point, and we haven’t received any concrete information about the reason for this change yet. It’s also possible that Nintendo simply bought PlatinumGames’ hold on the game.

However, fans are now wondering what Astral Chain’s future will be. Does Nintendo plan on releasing a sequel, or will it turn the game into a full-out franchise? Also, will PlatinumGames still play a part in any future game’s development?

There are so many questions that we will have to leave unanswered for now. Hopefully Nintendo will reveal more in the coming months.

King of Fighters 15 Releases New Trailer Featuring Benimaru Nikaido

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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King of Fighters 15 has been releasing character trailers in preparation for the game’s 2021 launch date. The most recent trailer features one of the game’s most seasoned veteran Benimaru Nikaido as well as his signature electrokinetic moveset.

While Benimaru was confirmed as a King of Fighters 15 combatant via a teaser trailer back in December, this footage officially reveals his Raijinken punch and his Flying Drill kick. The trailer focuses on the character’s fast-paced fighting style that has made him a formidable competitor since his debut in the franchise’s first entry, The King of Fighters ’94.

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Though his soaring hairstyle and moveset are a familiar sight, his Hero Team allies might come as a bit of a shock. Developer SNK has always split its characters into teams, usually decided by geographic origins as well as different team motivations.

Benimaru is most frequently found fighting along the side of franchise staples Goro Daimon and Kyo Kusanagi on the Team Japan. However, the end of the video reveals that Benimaru will be joining Shun’ei and the recently featured Meitenkun on Hero Team. It is shocking to see Benimaru get separated from his typical comrades, possibly foreshadowing events in the upcoming game’s story.

Little is still known about King of Fighters 15 aside from a few characters and the art direction. The only detail known about its launch is it will be some time this year. During the first official character reveal trailer for King of Fighters 15, Eisuke Ogura, the game’s creative director, mentioned that the game “will differ greatly” from the previous games and that this installment will be SNK’s “most ambitious KOF yet.”

The secrets behind this team shakeup will have to wait until the game is released later this year. Fans should keep an eye out for more character reveal trailers, as they can provide more certainty surrounding the mysteries of King of Fighters 15 teams.

Epic Games Removes All Trucks In Fortnite For Unknown Reason

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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Another problem has emerged during Fortnite Season 5 that has forced developer Epic Games to take immediate action, this time resulting in the removal of all the trucks in the game. Fortnite has other kinds of vehicles that players can use, but several weekly challenges require players to ride trucks in order to finish them.

Fortnite has had a plethora of vehicles added then removed from the game over the course of 15 seasons. Hamster balls, four-wheelers, planes, are only a few of the crazy means of transportation that Epic Games has integrated into the hit battle royale.

However, it was not until Chapter 2 Season 3 that proper vehicles like semis, trucks, and cars were introduced to the game. Now, for the first time since their addition, trucks have been removed from the game.

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The official Fortnite Status page posted on Twitter that trucks, also called OG Bears, have been temporarily removed from the game. The announcement didn’t mention the reason why trucks were removed except for vaguely mentioning that there was some kind of problem involved. A large number of replies to the tweet come from frustrated players who consider the OG Bear as the best vehicle currently in the game, while others are afraid that the trucks will never return.

This is a fair expectation as Epic Games also had to remove Sand Tunneling earlier this month because of a glitch that caused players to go invisible. As a matter of fact, the new feature has already been removed twice this season – once when the glitch was uncovered, and a second time after the devs thought it was fixed but wasn’t.

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Sand Tunneling has been removed for more than a month and the bigger portion of the current season. Sand Tunneling has since returned in the latest update of Fortnite, and everyone hopes that it is actually addressed this time. While Season 5 isn’t set to end until March, it’s still reasonable to believe that trucks may not be returning anytime soon.

Whether Epic Games will return them within a few hours or next season, it would be great to know why they were pulled out in the first place. Did they explode too easily when shot at? Could more players pile into the back of the truck than intended?

Nonetheless, Fortnite players need trucks to make special deliveries as part of the game’s weekly challenges, so it would be great to see them again in the next few days.

Pokemon Teams Up With Levi’s To Bring Apparel Crossover

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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With the Pokemon series commemorating its 25th anniversary this week, the franchise continues to broaden its media influence to all kinds of merchandise. With the crossover of Pokemon and fashion already sealed, it comes as no surprise that another brand is excited to join the festivities.

The next clothing brand to welcome all the Pokemon trainers out there is the ever famous Levi’s. The official Twitter account of the brand shared a few forthcoming designs to celebrate Pokemon’s 25th anniversary.

The official revelation on Twitter only provided a glance of what the new collection has to offer, with the rest discovered by Twitter users. In the original tweet, it features a bright green floral print jacket displaying a few familiar Pokemon.

All over the jacket are some of the most popular Pokemon ever known such as Charmander, Squirtle, Psyduck, and Mewtwo. While it might appear to only display Kanto regionals, a Togepi is showing some love from Johto.

Since Levi’s Twitter account was only willing to tease the new clothing line with just a single photo and the simple “COMING SOON” caption, online users have given additional looks at the rest of the collection.

Aside from the already revealed jacket, there will also be jeans featuring a similar pattern. Looking at the design in more detail, Levi’s is certainly focusing on the original Pokemon Red and Greed games in 1996. This similar pattern can also be found on an accompanying bag. The other confirmed design is simpler than the others, with a basic pair of jeans that feature a Pikachu on its right leg.

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While there are likely a lot of Pokemon fans ready to wear their love for the brand, some might be disappointed by their price tag. While not officially confirmed by Levi’s, users online have revealed that price listings are jaw-droppingly high. According to PokeJungle, a reputable news source on Twitter, the jeans are anticipated to cost more than $148. There is no indication of the jacket or bag’s price yet, they will likely have a high cost too.

While Pokemon’s reach into fashion is well known by most gamers, the connection of Levi’s as a brand really goes further than just one Nintendo property. Last March 2020, Levi’s hinted at a then-upcoming crossover with Nintendo’s mascot, Mario.

While the Super Mario x Levi’s collection has been delayed because of the global pandemic, it likely helped lead to this forthcoming Pokemon crossover. So for Pokemon fans planning to flaunt their love in comfort, there is a forthcoming and expensive option for them.

Epic Games Is Now The Most Famous Gaming Brand In The World

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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Based on a study conducted by BusinessFinancing.co.uk, a reputable publication in the United Kingdom, Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, is regarded as the most famous gaming brand in the world in the vast majority of regions across the globe. The growth of Epic Games in its three decades of existence is nothing short of remarkable.

The company has had various smaller hits under its built upon truly groundbreaking with Unreal back in the 1990s. Throughout the following decade, Unreal, its spin-offs, and the success of Gears of War made Epic Games more renowned, as did the influential graphics engine, Unreal Engine.

Still, there were times at which the company seemed to falter on the edge of shuttering, something it managed to stay away from thanks to Tencent, a Chinese holdings company, obtaining a large stake of Epic Games back in 2012. Then Fortnite’s battle royale mode became a surprise hit, harboring a significant success that earned Epic Games $3 billion in 2018 alone.

Curious about the world’s most famous consumer brands, UK-based publication BusinessFinancing.co.uk utilized Google Keyword Planner in order to determine the most searched brands in each country. Out of 190 countries, Epic Games has been a prominent gaming brand in over 140 counties, raking in 4,716,375 searches.

The publication also discovered that Nintendo sits closely at second place, dominating 24 countries with a total of 3,120,010 worldwide searches. In the meantime, famous mobile gaming company Gameloft is in third place while Atari and Activision come in at fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Nintendo and Epic Games emerging both at the top of the list comes as no surprise. The regular updates made in Fortnite as well as the various crossover events most undoubtedly kept Epic Games at the top of many search engines.

The Epic Games Store also helps the company dominate in this regard, too. And Nintendo is, well, Nintendo. What does seem shocking is Activision’s low placement. Provided Call of Duty’s frequent expansion as a franchise, particularly over the past two years, it’s hard to believe the company didn’t even manage to reach the top three most searched brands in the world.

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It is also worth noting that Xbox and PlayStation didn’t even crack the top five, both of which experienced massive console releases just a couple of months ago. Perhaps, that doesn’t translate to day-to-day searches, however.

Yet, the work done by the likes of BusinessFinancing.co.uk is always remarkable to peruse. It gives interesting knowledge into the expansive world of video gaming that usually gets ignored.

More Hitman 3 Content Coming Soon – Developer

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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Though Hitman 3 marks the conclusion of the World of Assassination Trilogy, developer IO Interactive is done with neither the latest installment nor Hitman in general. According to those who have already played it, Hitman 3 works as the ideal lead into a possible fourth Hitman entry. The game’s early sales success on the market also appears to ensure the development team won’t want to leave Agent 47 waiting in the darkness for too long.

In its first week alone, the game managed to regain all of its development expenses. Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, revealed as much in a recent interview, acknowledging that such success puts the company in a “really good place.” Now the development team is free to positively pursue its next new endeavor, which will see the Hitman makes move from one secret agent to another with an original James Bond game.

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Talking with The Gamer, executive producer Forest Swartout Large hinted that IO Interactive’s role on the endeared stealth-based game isn’t complete. The executive producer revealed to the publication that “we’re continuously working on Hitman so we are already looking to the future.”

Whether or not this means the studio has its sights locked on a potential Hitman 4 remains to be seen, but the executive producer did confirm that Hitman 3 DLC expansions are on their way. New locations akin to the New York bank expansion for Hitman 2 are not what the developers have in mind. Instead, the developers want to reimagine existing settings. The executive producer said:

“We are definitely going to be doing some DLC, but we haven’t defined what that is. I think for now we are not looking at new maps like the bank and the island. We’re more looking at using existing locations and reimagining them, twisting them. And this time around, we can use the whole trilogy. We can look back at Hitman 2016 maps, Hitman 2 maps – we have all the locations.”

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This statement reveals that Hitman 3 is destined to receive more Escalation Contracts and Elusive Targets, as opposed to completely new levels. In Hitman 2, the development team rolled out a similar post-release content through an Expansion Pass which players were able to buy ahead of the sequel’s launch. The newest entry doesn’t have an identical offering as of yet; thus it is not certain how IO Interactive will expand the DLC when the time comes.

As previously mentioned, Hitman 3 is already a remarkable success for IO Interactive. In addition to getting back development expenses within just a week after launch, the follow up had the largest digital release in franchise history. This momentum will possibly continue to increase, provided the universally positive feedback from fans and critics alike.

Latest League of Legends Trailer Previews New Shan Hai Scroll Skins

By
Aletheia
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0
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Riot Games released a new League of Legends trailer recently showcasing the new Shan Hai Scroll skins. This most recent skin set was released last week on January 28 in anticipation of this year’s Lunar New Year, which will begin on February 12. Releasing a new skin set for Lunar New Year is an annual tradition of Riot Games’, and it’s great that it’s still ongoing even today.

Although the developer releases these skins for its massive Chinese players, fans from all over the world can also purchase these themed cosmetics and take part in the Lunar New Year event. For 2020’s Year of the Rat Lunar New Year event, developer Riot Games released its five Mecha Kingdoms skins as well as one Prestige edition skin.

Since we’re already in 2021, Riot Games’ auto battler game, Teamfight Tactics, recently released its Lunar New Year skins with the Festival of Beasts. This event added brand-new units to the game, all of which were based on the Shan Hai Scroll skins. Not only that, it included other cosmetics as well as arenas themed around this year’s Lunar New Year.

2021 is the Year of the Ox, so fans were intrigued to see what Riot Games had planned in celebration of the yearly event. Thanks to the recent cinematic trailer, we now have a good idea of what to expect from the Shan Hai Scroll skins.

There are four different champions featured in this trailer, which was posted on the official League of Legends YouTube channel. These four champions will be the one to receive Shan Hai Scroll skins, namely Nautilus, Cho’Gath, Jhin, and Neeko. In the “A Hero’s Blossom” trailer, we can see Neeko trying to fight off two Shan Hai Scroll giants, namely Cho’Gath and Nautilus.

The latter two are trying to attack Neeko while avoiding damage inflicted from Jhin’s gun. Not only is the cinematic trailer action-packed, but it also does a commendable job at showcasing how each of the skins look—all of which are inspired from Chinese fairy tales and mythology.

Asides from the skins themselves, though, the trailer also highlights some of the skins’ details, which is something that’s not often showcased. For instance, the trailer puts a spotlight on the fact that there’s a difference in Jhin’s iconic mask in that it’s a bit more demonic to match the overall theme.

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Then, there’s Nautilus’s ultimate ability, which looks like it spits out a ghost-like image of some kind of mythical Chinese beast. Overall, this latest League of Legends trailer definitely didn’t disappoint, just like the others.

Riot Games’ cinematic trailers are known for high production value and level of detail—something that countless fans love and appreciate. In this case, Riot Games was able to beautifully blend together a mix of traditional and mythical, and created a skin set (and a trailer) that was able to fully capture the uniqueness of League of Legends.

“A Hero’s Blossom” is simply one of the trailers in Riot’s roster of incredible videos, and we’re sure that it did a great job at hyping up the fans for the new skins.

How To Redeem The Pokemon Go Free Verizon Avatar Gear

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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Pokemon Go is partnering with Verizon to provide players with awesome gear for their in-game avatar absolutely for free. The immensely famous augmented reality mobile game has seen a renewal in popularity in the past few months, thanks to the recent integration of the Go Battle League and PvP trainer battles which lets players fight their Pokemon with other players across the globe. As a result, the game had one of its best years ever back in 2020, becoming one of the most widely played, and most profitable mobile titles in the world today.

This is not the first time that Pokemon Go has partnered with companies to give away free in-game items. A few weeks ago, a time-limited crossover event with The North Face and Gucci provided fans a promo code to redeem in-game cosmetic loots.

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The event was designed so that players would not have to leave their houses to obtain the freebies and encourage everyone to be safe in the middle of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This is following an event last October 2020 where the game commemorated Paris Fashion Week, which featured new accessories and exclusively dressed Pokemon that trainers can meet in the wild.

According to a report from The Gamer, the latest partnership between Pokemon Go and Verizon will give players a promo code that will gift them special Verizon-branded items for their in-game avatar. These include a sweatshirt and facemasks with a Verizon logo, for both male and female avatars.

To redeem the items, players need to login into their Pokemon Go app, go to the Shop in the menu, and enter the code “LRQEV2VZ59UDA” in the “Promos” entry bar. For iOS users, they can also visit the Niantic code redeem page, log in using their account, and enter the promo code there.

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Even though trainers may be disappointed in the appearance of these highly-branded clothes in Pokemon Go, it’s probable that many will grab at the opportunity to get a new and free avatar outfit. This is particularly appetizing for fans who are newer to the game and don’t have as much cosmetics for their in-game avatar, or for players who don’t want to waste a lot of funds on a free to play title.

Nonetheless, the fact that Pokemon Go is able to continue teaming up with famous brands for crossover events is securing the future of the game. With more investments and partnerships, along with its massive popularity, it seems likely that the game is here to stay for a long time.

Bayonetta 3 Won’t Be Released Anytime Soon

By
Aletheia
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0
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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.

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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.

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