Why does Bayonetta 3 keep generating controversial headlines?
Whether it’s disputes over voice actor pay, complaints about censorship, or rumours that
key developers have secretly left the project, the games media has been particularly obsessed with
listing the game’s perceived troubled development. For years, the developers at Platinum Games have
been forced to repeatedly insist that, no, actually, Bayonetta 3’s
development is going fine. There are no major problems behind the scenes. No more problems,
at least, as would be expected of any hotly anticipated instalment in a popular franchise.
Now that the game has released to a generally favourable critical reception,
the question needs to be asked: why was there so much discussion of its development? Why did
the gaming media turn every scrap of news about its development into a minor scandal?
For all that developers at Platinum games are keen to quash rumours of behind-the-scenes troubles,
they’re also not very forthcoming about much of the development process for the game. This radio
silence has only contributed to fan speculation. This being the case, we present: a brief history
of Platinum Games developers telling journalists that everything is fine with Bayonetta 3.
This isn’t a complete timeline, but it’s enough to give a snapshot of various moments throughout
the game’s development. We’ll present this without commentary, you can draw
your own conclusions about what was going on. The game was first announced at E3 in 2017,
and by 2019, fans were already questioning whether Bayonetta 3 would ever see the light of day.
In May 2019, studio head Atsushi Inaba made a public statement suggesting that the game’s
development was “unorthodox”. He said: “With Bayonetta 1 and 2 we had basically
an orthodox development process, at least for us. We did stage one,
then stage two, then stage three and built up the drama and the pacing chronologically.
“For Bayonetta 3, we can say that we learned enough from making the past two games to
change our process in a way that’s different to what I just described.”
When Bayonetta 3 then didn’t appear at that year’s E3, Inaba insisted
that this was nothing to worry about, saying: “No, development is actually going quite well.
“Games aren’t usually done in a year or two… it takes a while. That’s all. Things are going well
and I know a lot of people are asking for it. “Giving updates for everything at E3 isn’t the
smartest PR strategy to begin with. So just because we’re not showing it here
doesn’t mean it’s not going well.” At around the same time, the game’s
executive director, Hideki Kamiya, explained a little more about the complex business
arrangements between Sega and Nintendo that were happening behind the scenes.
He said: “As for Bayonetta 3, it was decided from the start
that the game was going to be developed using Nintendo's funding. Without their help, we would
not have been able to kick off this project. All of the rights still belong to Sega and Nintendo.
The rights owners decided that the game should be made for Switch. Game development is a business.
“Each company has its own circumstances and strategies. Sometimes this means games get made,
sometimes it means they get cancelled. But I believe that every single person involved
is dedicated to delivering the best possible experience. I know that, to me at least, that's
one of the biggest goals when I set to work. “I cannot express how happy I am that we get
to make Bayonetta 3, and we intend to do everything within our power to make it as
good as it can be. That's all we can do, and we consider it our greatest mission. It took a while
for production of Bayonetta 3 to be okayed, but now that it has kicked off, I hope it will turn
into a wonderful encounter for all of you.” By March of 2020, developers and journalists
alike were already joking about the lack of Bayonetta 3 news.
An interviewer for Gematsu asked Inaba: “Before we go, can you do that thing
where you tell me development on Bayonetta 3 is going well and there’s nothing to worry about?”
He laughed, and responded: “There’s nothing to worry about at all. There’s
nothing to worry about. Things are going very well. Really, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Alas, this wasn’t enough to allay fears about the project. In May of 2020, Kamiya said:
“I’m on Twitter so I see a lot of comments every day. I’m happy that there’s still anticipation
for the title, but one thing I would like to address is the trend I’m seeing which
is people who are starting to ask if the game has been cancelled. I want you guys to take any
concerns you have like that and throw them out the window immediately because we’re still hard
at work on it and it hasn’t been cancelled by any means. Please look forward to it!”
Jumping forward to September of 2021, Bayonetta 3 director Yusuke Miyata made
a blog post on the PlatinumGames website insisting that the game was nearly ready.
He said: “We’re in the home stretch
of development right now, working on making the core of the game even more fun and test playing
nonstop. As the culmination of this series loved by all of you, we’re giving our all to make it
a masterpiece worth of the name Bayonetta so please wait and anticipate just a bit longer!”
Now that the game has released, it seems that the developers have been vindicated. There was
no major catastrophe during development, and if there was, it’s long since been dealt with.
There’s no one reason why a game like Bayonetta 3 might receive so much controversial coverage,
but a likely cause is the overwhelming demand for news.
Games media outlets quickly discovered that Bayonetta 3 was a good source of website traffic,
creating an incentive to publish as many stories as possible on the subject,
even when there wasn’t official news available. Issues that wouldn’t be given as much attention
for other games became big news for Bayonetta 3. The moral of the story, as Bayonetta 3 has
now finally released to critical acclaim, is: sometimes, everything really is fine.