Indeed. If it profitted, a game like this would be a success. It's far away from that though. We do have an idea as to what the budget is, but have to use comments about related Platinum Games. Bayonetta didn't make enough money, likely only broke even (if even) with bargain bin copies. Wonderful 101 had 1.5x the budget of Bayonetta. So, how much more did Bayonetta 2 cost to make, let alone the additonal cost to remaster the first game.

Remastering the first game was likely negligible in cost. The question of B1's preformance is an interesting one, due to the bargain bin and due to the fact that Sega's decision to can the sequel came some point after the start of development. My guess is that B1 turned a profit, just not enough of one to justify further investment to Sega, who took steps in 2011 to shrink themselves and cut unnecessary games from their lineup.

With Nintendo's dogged tendency to not cut prices on their games, B2 could at least break even in time.

It won't have near the legs because of the platform, small userbase, and high price.

and if the remaster was a negligible cost, then publishers must be bathing in money because they're all selling well.

its pure PR,  nintendo has to please the core markted, and nothing is better than a fancy fanfav. nintendo knew that they will not make money on this one but they did it anyway to please the core market with a fantastic gem.

Well.. Eh, I guess it's a success. Not a very big one though.

It is to the ones who bought it

Duh, of course. :P

I'm just talking about sales here, which aren't bad at all.

Hence why they do a lot of them, especially now that budgets are ballooning and you need to get more out of your upfront investment because you need a bigger one. The trouble is getting people to buy them as standalone products when the originals are so much cheaper, which is why it's a treatment reserved for big games.

all of these armchair CFOs are hilarious. B2 was a success, full stop. Expect a 3rd installment

I completly agree with you, they should take a majority stake in Platinum & Level5!