While there hasn’t been any substantial update on Bayonetta 3, Nintendo assures fans that development is “progressing well”, despite its absence at any major gaming conference since its reveal. While many fans had hoped this year’s E3 would break the cycle of silence on the game, this year was no different than the others. While Platinum Games did show up at E3 for Babylon’s Fall, they were once again quiet when it came to Bayonetta 3.
In a recent interview with Gamespot, Nintendo’s Nate Bihldorff and Bill Trinen confirmed that the game is “progressing well”, and although this statement is rather vague it still assures fans that the game is on its way. “We like to show things when we’re ready to show them. And certainly, we like to show things when the developers are ready to show them,” Trinen added. “We didn’t have it here at E3, but stay tuned.” This is similar situation to how Nintendo has handled Metroid Prime 4. Its initial reveal was a cinematic revealing of the game’s logo, with no information following it until Nintendo announced the game had been completely restarted for not meeting their standards. Since then, Nintendo has been tight-lipped on any information regarding the game and only briefly mentioned the game at this year’s E3 Direct, again assuring fans that the game is progressing well.
Fans are understandably upset by getting no news this E3 again, especially after game director Hideki Kamiya commented on the status of the game earlier this year, In an interview with VGC Kamiya replied to a question regarding the status of the game and why it has been so tight-lipped. Kamiya’s response gave fans a glimmer of hope that new information would surely come this year.
“It’s not really our position to say, but… it’s January. We’ve got to have something come out, right? I guess it’s safe to expect that something will come out. There’s still a lot of the year left is what I’m saying.”
Kamiya went on to light-heartedly say “I understand it’s driving the fans crazy! In light of that, my suggestion would be that maybe we should all reset and forget about Bayonetta 3. Then when something finally does happen, it will be a nice surprise, won’t it?” Hideki Kamiya has not always been this cheery when it comes to fan’s demands though, as he recently took to Twitter as well to comment on the surge in requests from fans for new info as well as though commenting on the status of the game.
His tweet translates to, “You may get frustrated or angry if the information you want isn’t disclosed … ‘Get information quickly’ ‘Show me something’ I understand this … But ‘Isn’t development stopped?’ ‘You made a mistake’ Negative delusions that are not based on such facts are nothing but annoying pollution…”. Kamiya is understandably frustrated at the constant barrage of fan heckling he and his team face. But with video game development becoming an even harder task due to COVID-19, as well as Nintendo’s vague comments on the game, there is no way of knowing when we will receive new gameplay of Bayonetta 3.