Hideki Kamiya Defends Bayonetta 3's Switch Exclusivity With Detailed History of the Franchise

When Bayonetta 3 was first announced, fans of the iconic witch were thrilled to see her once again center stage for a new adventure. Though the new title's Nintendo Switch exclusivity shouldn't be a huge surprise, many were upset with the decision which prompted director Hideki Kamiya to set the record straight on the decision behind the platform-centric move.

The director took to Twitter for a 15 tweet explanation, starting with tweet number 1:

I've got something I want to tell you all. It's about Bayonetta 3. (1/15)

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) February 13, 2018

For the sake of simplicity, we're going to just quote out the rest so we don't have a wall of Twitter text:

"We are a developer that creates games by signing contracts with publishers and receiving funds from them in order to cover development costs," he started out. "For Bayonetta 1, we signed a contract with Sega and received funds from them, then we proposed a design for the game and entered production. All of the rights belong to Sega.

At the time, our company had only just been established, and we weren't properly equipped for a multiplatform development, so after discussing it with Sega, we decided to develop the game exclusively for Xbox 360."

"However, after that, one of Sega's trading partners ended up making a port for PS4, at Sega's behest. More recently, they also decided that a Steam version should be developed, which was released last year. Sega owns the rights to all of these versions.

When we started making Bayonetta 2, we initially received funds from Sega to develop the game for multiple platforms, but the project was halted due to circumstances at Sega. Nintendo then stepped in to continue funding the game, allowing us to finish it."

"As such, the rights belong to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided the game should be made for Wii U. Nintendo was also kind enough to fund a port of Bayo 1 for Wii U, and they even allowed us to use the Japanese voice track we created for the Wii U version in the PC version of Bayo 1 as well.

I am extremely thankful to Nintendo for funding the game, and to Sega for allowing them to use the Bayonetta IP. 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 belog to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided the game should be made for the 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 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 awhile for production of Bayonetta 3 to be okayed, but now that is has kicked off, I hope it will turn into a wonderful encounter for all of you."

No one could have said it better, or more plainly as Kamiya-san did with his lengthy statement. A lot of us gamers lose sight sometimes that these are businesses, and businesses need money. It's clear there is a lot passion behind this franchise and we know that it is in good hands.