Bayonetta 2: Developers Explain Why They Sided With Nintendo

[binary solo]

Play4Fun said:

binary solo said:
". Bayonetta has fans the world over, and we would never dream of alienating them from participating in the future of Platinum Games.

That being said, the console games market is in a state of upheaval, so establishing a new game franchise requires a considerable amount of will, determination, and love. Bayonetta is a brand that we want to see become stronger, reaching the hands of more and more gamers, so we have continued to consult with Sega, the previous game’s publisher, on how we can make sure this takes place. Our answer was a new partnership with Nintendo."

O_o So they put it exclusively on a console with currently 0 install base and unlikely to get a substantial install base for a game like this any time soon.

Fine to move from being multiplat to exclusive and ditching the previous consoles. But don't talk bullshit while you're announcing it. Just come out and say that Nintendo were keen to help publish the game, you were happy to take up their offer, and Sega gave it the nod. Don't pretend that the game is going to reach more people on a new console than the original game did on 2 consoles with substantial install bases. People don't like it when you think they are fools and can get away with saying anything.

Do what you want, but be honest about it.

New/niche games have a better chance of selling well on a new console. Customers are more open-minded at that time than they are mid to late gen.

If it was on PS360, it would probably have sold worse than the first considering how saturated the sales of those consoles are thanks to a gen that has been going on to long.

Maybe with the attention it will get by being exclusive on a system with a still-small library and Nintendo marketing it on TV plus MiiVerse, it'll sell really well.

Do you have any evidence to back up the claim that a niche game franchise switching from 2 console multiplat to a 3rd console exclusive for the 2nd game in the series at the beginning of that 3rd console's life does better than the original game?

Best example I can find of a niche franchise switching consoles is Oddworld (albeit it was exclusive on one console and switched to exclusive on the other, so not exactly the same situation). How did that work out for the franchise? Not all that well. The 2 Xbox entries combined sold the same as the lower selling game on the PS1. Yes Wii U will sell better than XB, so Bayonetta has a better chance, but I would be very surprised if B2 sells 2 million. That means either negative, zero or single digit positive growth. Not the "more and more" and "stronger" that the Platinum dude is trying to spin.

Maybe there are some examples where the franchise saw substantial growth by switching and reducing the number of consoles it was available on. It would be interesting to see.

Fact is for the franchise to become stronger and reach "more and more" (not just a few more) gamers it needs to be on all 3 nexgen consoles.