The Japanese video game developer PlatinumGames mostly has been silent about Bayonetta 3 which was announced as a Nintendo Switch exclusive back in 2017. Since then, fans have been expecting Bayonetta 3 to release sometime within this year but it seems the game’s release date may be pushed back till 2020 or even later.
Earlier this year, Nintendo’s Senior Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen confirmed during an episode of the Nintendo Power Podcast that Bayonetta 3 release date would be in 2019.
“Bayonetta 3 is still in the works…and of course, that’s another game that’s maybe coming a little bit sooner than people anticipated. Later this year,” he said.
Fans were also expecting a 2019 release date for Bayonetta 3 since the developers were mostly positive about how the game’s development was going.
But now it is being speculated that Bayonetta 3’s release date will ultimately land sometime in 2020. The speculation comes from Nintendo’s latest quarterly financial report. The report focuses on the upcoming Nintendo Switch games for 2019.
In the new report, Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 are listed under “TBA” (To Be Announced). Even though previous quarterly reports said that Bayonetta 3 will be released in late 2019, the TBA in the latest report suggests the release date will be delayed by an year.
Although this isn’t a solid confirmation on the release date of Bayonetta 3 being delayed, it does seem to suggest that the game won’t be coming anytime soon. This may come as a disappointment to many Nintendo Switch fans who were waiting for the game. Fans can still take some comfort in knowing that Astral Chain, another PlatinumGames’ exclusive, is still set to release on 30th August 2019.
It is likely that Astral Chain’s release has something to do with Bayonetta 3’s possible delay. Perhaps Nintendo doesn’t want two games to release close to each other. This can cause problems for publishers. It is better for studios and publishers to focus on one game at a time. This is particularly good for quality assurance.
Bayonetta 3 Nintendo Switch is being developed by PlatinumGames and being published by Nintendo exclusively for the Nintendo Switch with an unknown release date.
