Following his departure from PlatinumGames this past October, Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya assures this doesn’t mark the end of the series, but his original vision for its future may no longer come to pass.
While addressing fan queries in a recent YouTube video posted on Nov. 23, Kamiya naturally touched upon the subject of Bayonetta, explaining he doesn’t own the IP and thus it can continue without his involvement: “…I suppose those who do [own Bayonetta] will probably keep it going,” he said.
It can be hard to imagine a new Bayonetta game without Kamiya. Aside from creating the series, he’s always had a hand in its development. He only ever directed the first game before stepping back into a supervisory role on the sequels, but remained in charge of the story scenarios.
As such, how the series will progress will likely be very different from what Kamiya had planned for it. In fact, he envisioned Bayonetta as a nine-part saga, but now that he’s left PlatinumGames, he said he “may have to take the full saga to the grave with me.”
Some will mourn what could have been but, at the very least, it’s safe to assume that there’ll be a new Bayonetta game at some point. It’s easily PlatinumGames’ most well-known franchise, with the title character herself perhaps the closest thing the studio has to a mascot. Plus, 2022’s Bayonetta 3 sold over one million units in its first two months—strong sales are always going to encourage the higher-ups to green-light another game.
The series has also become a Nintendo exclusive ever since 2014’s Bayonetta 2 (in fact, the sequel only exists because Nintendo stepped in to help fund it) so if the big N ever wants more Bayonetta, PlatinumGames will likely oblige.
As for what Kamiya does plan to make next, only he knows the answer as he’s yet to share details on any future games. He was supposed to be working on Project G.G., which would serve as the final entry in his trilogy of superhero games (the other two being Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101), but it’s unclear if development on it will proceed without him or if the project’s been shuttered.
