If you were holding onto that faint sliver of hope that Bayonetta 2 would arrive on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One further down the line, Platinum Games has some bad news for you. In an interview with Nintendo Everything, the studio’s Hideki Kamiya stated that the Wii U exclusive will be tethered to Nintendo’s home console indefinitely.
“As for Bayonetta, we developed the game after signing a deal with Sega. Later it was decided to also develop the sequel, so we started working on Bayonetta 2. As I have said before, if you want Bayonetta 2 on PS4 or Xbox One, how about trying to ask Nintendo? If Nintendo doesn’t say yes, it’s not going to happen. While you’re at it, try asking for Mario and Zelda too.”
Given that the original Bayonetta — which launched for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010 — is now available on Wii U, some fans of the third-person hack-n’-slash title hoped that Sega would bring the sequel to multiple platforms eventually. However, now that the game is one of Nintendo’s outright exclusives, it seems as though the titular witch won’t be going anywhere soon.
By this stage, it’s public knowledge that Bayonetta 2 simply would not exist without the financial support of Nintendo. Despite being met with rave reviews upon release, the original game simply failed to ticked the right boxes and warrant its franchise potential on Sega’s financial sheet. And so, everyone’s favourite Umbra Witch looked set to be a flash in the pan.
Thanks to Nintendo, though, the IP was given another chance and given that the sequel is already available in Japan, early reviews have beginning to weave their way online, with the likes of Famitsu awarding it a 38/40.
Bayonetta 2 will launch simultaneously for North America and Europe on October 24th, 2014.