Sega Has a Bayonetta Countdown

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Sega Has a Bayonetta Countdown

A countdown to something.

On Saturday - April Fool's Day, also known as The Day People Finally Question What They Read On The Internet - Sega released 8-Bit Bayonetta on Steam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169955-April-Fools-Day-Jokes]. You can jump, jump more, and shoot your weapon - and best of all, it was free to play. Which is good, because it really isn't worth any money.

However, the game ended up leading to a countdown [http://www.sega.com/14111219] for something Bayonetta-related, but that's not the big story - the story is that the countdown is still going, and since we're officially in the April Fool's clear, that means that maybe this isn't a joke after all.

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1394/1394386.jpg

Could it be a PC port? A new Bayonetta? Or maybe it's the single cruelest April Fool's joke since that live action Legend of Zelda movie that tragically still isn't being made. I'm still not over that by the way, IGN [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8].

Anyway, there's no point in speculating - we'll have our answer next week. Until then, you can always jump and shoot things for free on Steam [http://store.steampowered.com/app/567090/].




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[Paragon Fury]

More Bayonetta is always good.

 

[hermes]

Since Nintendo produced Bayonetta 2, I believe a port is unlikely... but it would be glorious.

My guess is the announcement of Bayonetta 3 for the Nintendo Switch.

 

[Kinitawowi]

The Xbox 360 Bayonetta dashboard theme was laden with 8-bit era references - the Bayonetta As Wonder Boy In Monster Land is the one that sticks in the mind the most.

I already bought a Wii U solely for Bayo 2. If it's Bayo 3 for the Switch I will not be impressed. Steam interactions suggest a PC port, which I'd probably buy twice, but I'd still be annoyed about it being the third different system I'd have it for...

 

[Lisker84]

I've been a little confused by this. Sega basically left Bayonetta for dead, and now this. I'd like to say I'm excited by whatever it is, but given Sega's treatment of this series, I have a feeling something bad will happen.

 

[Worgen]

Since Nintendo produced Bayonetta 2, I believe a port is unlikely... but it would be glorious.

My guess is the announcement of Bayonetta 3 for the Nintendo Switch.

I would buy the fuck out of Bayonetta 2 again for the pc. But yeah, pretty unlikely since Nintendo put up the cash for it. Probably just a port of the first game, which I would still probably get again, at least when it was on sale.

 

[marioandsonic]

I'm guessing it's a PC port of the original Bayonetta.

I highly doubt it's a port of Bayonetta 2, considering Nintendo were the ones who funded it.

Maybe a possible Bayonetta 3? Who knows.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I'd be happy if it were a port of just the first game. A good port anyway.

 

[Mechamorph]

Bayonetta 1 has a reasonable chance of coming true, SEGA has made decent coin from selling ports of their old catalogue and more niche games on Steam. Valkyria Chronicles still stands as one of their success stories, the PC port sold well enough that the game easily made back the cost of porting it as well as a nice hunk of change for SEGA. Low risk, low investment with moderate returns might not be sexy but they do contribute to both brand recognition and the company's quarterly earnings.

Bayonetta 2 has a faint hope of coming out, especially if Bayonetta 1 sells well. Nintendo cofunded it but it has already seen its lifespan on the WiiU and if released, it would be at least 3 years old at that point. Nintendo is perhaps one of the most hidebound of Japanese developers but if Platinum Games can convince them its free money, they might bite. However Nintendo loves its exclusivity so even free money might not convince them. Granted someone could pound into their skull that there is relatively low overlap statistically between WiiU/Switch owners and Steam users compared to the other consoles. That however would entail Nintendo's geriatric higher management learning the shibboleth that is the internet. More likely that Japan elects Godzilla as Prime Minister.

The "blue balls" option of course is the release of "Bayonetta: Bloody Fates" on Steam. More and more anime is on Steam these days but while the movie is pretty decent for a licensed work, I would imagine most gamers on Steam would rather see the Bayonetta games instead. Or both movie and games, so long as we got the darned games out of the bargain.

Edit:
Looking at sales figures, Bayonetta 1 sold about as many copies in its first fortnight than Bayonetta 2 has in its entire lifetime. If Nintendo is getting a big slice of the pie, maybe Platinum Games can convince them that this is a good chance for them to make good on their investment. That is still quite a big "maybe" however.

 

[MetalheroDamien]

Edit:
Looking at sales figures, Bayonetta 1 sold about as many copies in its first fortnight than Bayonetta 2 has in its entire lifetime. If Nintendo is getting a big slice of the pie, maybe Platinum Games can convince them that this is a good chance for them to make good on their investment. That is still quite a big "maybe" however.

If I had to guess, that's because Bayonetta was available on two of the better selling consoles, while 2 was only available for the Wii U that sold terribly.

 

[Shadefyre]

I wanna know if we'll ever get that Vanquish PC port that Platinum mentioned interest in putting out.

 

[Weaver]

My money is on a Bayonetta PC port - it will probably sell really well on PC then SEGA will shit their pants in anger for basically letting Nintendo bankroll Bayo 2 which thus has a snowball's chance in hell of ever seeing a PC release.

 

[PhoenixMaster]

If this is a countdown to a possible pc port of Bayonetta 1. Why make it a countdown at all? Seems like extra trouble just to announce a pc port of Bayonetta 1. But I suppose its to build up hype or something.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

I'd totally get a PC port of Bayo 1. That was literally my favorite action hack-n-slash of it's generation.

I'm a bit behind on the functionality of the Switch, can anyone here claim the likelihood of Bayo 2 being playable on it? Like, Virtual Console or whatever it's called? One could buy it digitally, right?

 

[Guffe]

A beer company in Finland did a similar thing. They announced a beer pack that was 100 cans big on April fool day. Finland has its 100 anniversary of being independent this year. Everyone of course thought it was a joke, but it is still listed on their website

More Bayonetta is always good!!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's either a PC port or reveal of the next game in the series. Either way there will be a PC release. They wouldn't have bothered with that free 8-bit version on Steam otherwise. It could be both, actually. A port of the first game and a reveal of the next. But my money is on the port of the first game only. Call my cynical but I think that they're just trying to make more money by selling an old game again now that PC gaming is bigger than ever. Not that I'm complaining.

 

[Mechamorph]

Edit:
Looking at sales figures, Bayonetta 1 sold about as many copies in its first fortnight than Bayonetta 2 has in its entire lifetime. If Nintendo is getting a big slice of the pie, maybe Platinum Games can convince them that this is a good chance for them to make good on their investment. That is still quite a big "maybe" however.

If I had to guess, that's because Bayonetta was available on two of the better selling consoles, while 2 was only available for the Wii U that sold terribly.

I believe that you are correct; that the small install base of the WiiU limited the sales potential of Bayonetta 2 severely. Normally for a first party game, Nintendo hardly ever encounters this sort of situation while third party games are left to their own devices. Bayonetta 2 is in a strange place betwixt the two; a third party game funded by Nintendo. I would imagine that Nintendo want to get more than what they did in return for their investment and at this point have two options. One is to port it to the Switch and hope that the small extant install base (relative to the other consoles, mainly due to the fact that the other consoles are a few years older at this point) will grow rapidly and provide enough impetus for the sale of Bayonetta 2 on the Virtual Console (or its Switch equivalent). While the former is probably a done deal at this point; for the foreseeable future Nintendo will sell Switch consoles as fast as they can manufacture them, the latter is questionable. Selling a commercial failure on a new console, which is a sequel to another game no less, hoping to recoup losses and/or better profit margins is generally not a winning strategy.

This is why I am highly doubtful (and sad) that this is highly unlikely to be an announcement for Bayonetta 3. Bayonetta 2 was a commercial disappointment if not an outright failure and it is hard to get the money people to put even more money into a property that cannot be proven to be profitable. The suits care about dollars and cents, most of them are not gamers or indeed plugged in into any popular culture fandom. All they see is that Bayonetta 2 sold poorly and any mitigating circumstances will seem to them to be nothing more than excuses from a studio that has had a string of poorly performing games as late.

The second option for Nintendo is of course to let Platinum put the Bayonetta franchise on Steam for a share of the profits. As a primary stakeholder, probably a very big share of the profits. The corporate politics of Boardroom Japan can get really messy here. If Bayonetta 2 sells well on Steam, it proves that Nintendo did not back the wrong horse. Their judgement is sound and their investment was well justified. Nintendo rarely invests in other studio's games and the poor sales figures of Bayonetta 2 reflect very poorly on them. However if Bayonetta 2 does gonzo figures and sells like hotcakes, considering that there is a paucity of such games available on PC compared to other genres it could, then it places the poor sales squarely on Nintendo's doorstep. Platinum Games fulfilled their side of the bargain, producing a commercially viable game that is now proven to be in high demand. Nintendo however could not deliver the audience they promised and that their funding is nothing more than an albatross to a third party developer. If Bayonetta 1 does baller figures on Steam, people will talk. They will say that Platinum and Sega should have done that instead and gotten funding for Bayonetta 2 through such channels. At this point Nintendo cannot avoid a loss of face; Bayonetta 2's poor numbers preclude that. It is now a matter of what they could do to save face and if they are willing to swallow a bit of their pride to do so.

 

[Samael Barghest]

This is just all around dumb to me. Sega abandoned it, only to see there was some money left in the series. Now it's trying to milk it. I already have the Wii U and the PS3 version. I'm not buying the same pissing game a third time. Only a complete pillock would do something that stupid. Now, what Sega could do is hire Platinum Games to make another game that takes place in the Bayonetta world. Maybe Jeanne could be the main character of this one. Or we could get another witch that's fighting her way out of hell. Or maybe we can play as the angels.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This is just all around dumb to me. Sega abandoned it, only to see there was some money left in the series. Now it's trying to milk it. I already have the Wii U and the PS3 version. I'm not buying the same pissing game a third time.

The world doesn't revolve around you. I'm sure there's plenty of PC gamers who'd like to play it.