Bayonetta 3 was announced all the way back in 2017 and is now set to release some time this year with no specific date being announced as yet. It now seems as though Platinum Games underwent some major unannounced changes during Bayonetta 3's development that have only come to light recently.
Marius Hermanavicius was the former lead designer of Bayonetta 3 from when the game was announced back in 2017 until 2020 when he decided to leave the company. While it may seem rather concerning that this development was not announced to fans at the time it transpired, Bayonetta 3 seems to still be on track to launch this year after this was confirmed in a trailer for the game back in September 2021.
Hermanavicius moved on to Xbox's Tango Gameworks after his departure from Platinum Games after being involved with multiple projects with the company over the years. Hermanavicius worked on the canceled Xbox project Scalebound, was in charge of the level design and boss encounters in Astral Chain, and also played a large role in the development of Bayonetta 3. Hermanavicius was not the only big name to leave Platinum Games recently as the former president of the company stepped down earlier this month after his 6-year tenure with Platinum Games.
Hermanavicius was heavily involved in Scalebound which is alleged to share a lot in common with Bayonetta 3 along with lead designer in Yusuke Miyata, which is most likely why the games are alleged to have similarities. Both Bayonetta 3 and the canceled Scalebound seemingly feature a summoning system that allows the player character to summon creatures several hundred times larger than themselves.
The director of Scalebound came out late last year to apologize to the community for the game's cancellation. Hideki Kamiya sadly stated that the team at Platinum Games was merely not skilled enough to handle the ambitious task, hence why the game was canceled back in 2017. It was bold of Kimiya to admit this considering his bevy of successes with the studio in the past.
Kamiya then moved on to become the director of Bayonetta 3. Kamiya recently commented on the possibility of Bayonetta 3 being ported to other platforms and, sadly, at this point, it seems unlikely. Kamiya explained on Twitter that the game is being developed with funding from Nintendo, which means that it will be up to the company to decide whether or not the game will be ported. Nintendo generally has a tight grasp on its exclusive games, so the possibility of this seems highly unlikely.
Bayonetta 3 will launch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Source: NintendoLife