Hideki Kamiya over Bayonetta 3 en betrokkenheid Nintendo

“I’ve got something I want to tell you all. It’s about Bayonetta 3.”

Hideki Kamiya van PlatinumGames heeft op Twitter een aantal berichten geplaatst over Bayonetta en Nintendo’s betrokkenheid bij de serie. Kamiya was director van de eerste game, werkte mee aan het tweede deel en zal ook betrokken zijn bij de aankomende derde titel.

In zijn tweets is te lezen dat Bayonetta 2 begon als een project voor meerdere platforms. Op dat moment werd de game gemaakt in samenwerking met SEGA. Bayonetta 2 werd echter in de koelkast gezet door de toenmalige “stand van zaken” bij SEGA, waarna Nintendo zich uiteindelijk mengde in het project. Hierdoor kon PlatinumGames Bayonetta 2 afmaken en kwamen de rechten van de game te liggen bij zowel SEGA als Nintendo. Kamiya merkte op dat Nintendo toestemming gaf om de Japanse voice-over van Bayonetta 1, welke exclusief te vinden was in de Wii U-versie, gebruikt mocht worden in de latere pc-versie van de game.

Uiteindelijk ging Kamiya ook op Bayonetta 3 in. Het was altijd al het plan om Nintendo de ontwikkeling van de game te laten financieren. Nu zowel SEGA als Nintendo de rechten van de game bezitten, was het uiteraard besloten dat Bayonetta 3 exclusief voor de Nintendo Switch zou verschijnen. Kamiya stelt dat het “een tijdje heeft geduurd voordat de productie van Bayonetta 3 werd goedgekeurd”. Hier voegde hij aan toe dat PlatinumGames en hijzelf “alles uit de kast zullen halen om [Bayonetta 3] zo goed mogelijk te maken”.

De hele collectie tweets van Hideki Kamiya is hieronder te lezen.

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) 13 februari 2018

We are a developer that creates games by signing contracts with publishers and receiving funds from them in order to cover development costs. (2/15)

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

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. (3/15)

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

At the time, our company had only just been established, and we weren’t properly equipped for multiplatform development, so after discussing with Sega, we decided to develop the game exclusively for Xbox 360. (4/15)

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

However, after that, one of Sega’s trading partners ended up making a port for PS3, 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. (5/15)

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

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. (6/15)

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

As such, the rights belong to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided the game should be made for Wii U. (7/15)

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

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. (8/15)

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

I am extremely thankful to Nintendo for funding the game, and to Sega for allowing them to use the Bayonetta IP. (9/15)

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

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. (10/15)

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

All of the rights still belong to Sega and Nintendo. The rights owners decided that the game should be made for Switch. (11/15)

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

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. (12/15)

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

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. (13/15)

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

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. (14/15)

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

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. (15/15)

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