No matter what genre or platform a game belongs to, it can always make fans restless by disappearing from the public eye. Elden Ring offered a fantastic case study for a fan community's response to silent game development—fans very nearly made their own Elden Ring. Thankfully, there's proper news for that game available, taking Elden Ring off the game industry's list of missing games. Bayonetta 3, in contrast, still remains on that list. Nintendo fans are eager to get their hands on the next entry in the Bayonetta franchise, but although the game has been public knowledge for years, Nintendo and Platinum Games have said very little about Bayonetta 3.
Although they've been let down many times, Bayonetta fans remain hopeful that the game will return sometime soon. It's worth noting that in January 2021 Bayonetta 3's creative director Hideki Kamiya expressed optimism that he could share news about the game this year. Eight months may have passed since Kamiya's comments, but there's still time left in 2021 for Kamiya to fulfill his Bayonetta 3 hopes. There are still major events later on in 2021 where Bayonetta 3 could make a reappearance, finally breaking years of silence and setting the game up as one of Nintendo's biggest 2022 titles.
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When Bayonetta 3 was announced in 2017, it looked on track to become one of the Switch's early blockbuster titles. For a little while, fans thought that the game would release in 2019, but it made no such appearance. After that, the game fell off the game industry's radar. It could've made appearances in any of a number of Nintendo Directs, but instead, it remained silent. It didn't even join E3 2021, a conference that brought back tons of long-awaited games. That includes one of Nintendo's other missing projects, Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, which fans now know will release in 2022.
Interestingly, although Bayonetta 3 doesn't get much official news, Hideki Kamiya and Platinum Games have a habit of repeatedly assuring fans that the game is doing just fine. As recently as June 2021—shortly before E3—Platinum Games told fans once again that Bayonetta 3's development was going fine, but that it wasn't ready to show off the game yet. The June statement was only the latest in a long line of similarly vague but optimistic statements from Platinum on the state of Bayonetta 3. If nothing else, these regular statements at least tell fans that Platinum hasn't canceled Bayonetta 3 behind closed doors.
What's particularly odd about these statements about Bayonetta 3 is that they don't necessarily dispel the notion of news in the near future. Platinum's June statement on Bayonetta 3's development was clearly intended to dispel fan hopes that the game would appear at E3 2021, but there's plenty of other occasions later in 2021 where it could appear. With a little extra work done on the game, Bayonetta 3 might be in a more presentable state now than it was in June. There's still a chance that Platinum will say something more concrete on Bayonetta in 2021 that isn't just another reassurance that the game is still being made.
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The most obvious and perhaps strongest place for Bayonetta 3 to reappear is The Game Awards 2021. The ceremony always involves teasers and trailers: everything from The Callisto Protocol to Perfect Dark has appeared in between individual awards at The Game Awards. Last year's Game Awards was one of many events that had to totally overhaul its usual model thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but 2021's Game Awards might be more traditional. Game companies will probably be eager to release or tease something at The Game Awards 2021, not just because doing so is a time-honored tradition, but because it could be a return to form for the award ceremony. With that in mind, Nintendo and Platinum Games would be wise to arrange a Bayonetta 3 appearance at The Game Awards 2021. Such an important ceremony is the perfect platform for such a demanded game.
Even if Nintendo doesn't opt for a Game Awards appearance, though, there's enough for 2021 left for Bayonetta 3 to appear somewhere else. For example, Nintendo is producing Nintendo Directs again. It could easily release a Direct before the holiday season that includes a new Bayonetta 3 trailer with some form of release window. There's plenty of other missing Nintendo products that deserve coverage, so a late 2021 Direct wouldn't be dominated by Bayonetta 3 alone.
Beyond that, there's also the Tokyo Game Show to address. This game conference for Japanese developers has been featuring major studios for 25 years, so it wouldn't be strange for Nintendo and Platinum Games to bring Bayonetta 3 to the show. Some rumors already suggest Nintendo will be there to announce the last Super Smash Bros Ultimate DLC fighter, so Nintendo could bring some other projects there as well. There's no shortage of 2021 venues where Bayonetta 3 could appear.
Platinum and Nintendo have to reveal some details about Bayonetta 3 eventually, whether it's good news or bad news. The game has a reputation for being trapped in development limbo that rivals many other games walking similar tightropes. The only way that Platinum can get rid of that reputation is by releasing a proper Bayonetta 3 trailer. Although its repeated statements that the game is doing fine make it clear that the game still exists, the pattern doesn't make it seem like the game is getting anywhere. Although the check-ins are appreciated, after all this time, they don't mean much to fans anymore.
Thankfully, the Bayonetta 3 developers still have time to make good on Kamiya's hopes that the game will come forward this year. The Game Awards are still months away, as is a theoretical holiday Nintendo Direct. That could leave Platinum enough time to prepare a Bayonetta 3 trailer finally showing off new plot and gameplay elements in spite of Platinum's June statement that Bayonetta 3 isn't ready. Fans should definitely keep expectations in check for the whole, but until Platinum refutes that there's any Bayonetta news on the way, something could still come forward in 2021. Nintendo does still need to stock 2022 with big games, so maybe Bayonetta 3 will join its schedule for next year after making a long-awaited appearance in 2021.
Bayonetta 3 is in development for Switch.