The long awaited Bayonetta 3 launches next week, and as is tradition in the video game industry, spoilers are doing their best to ruin the day. First announced at The Game Awards 2017, Bayonetta 3 comes just over eight years since the sequel was launched in 2014, and several painful years of waiting are soon coming to an end.
Bayonetta 3 is set to be the most expansive title in the series to date, with significant developments of previous mechanics noted in trailers and first impressions. PlatinumGames has confirmed the return of beloved features, including Witch Time, the ability for the player to speed up, represented by time slowing down in the game. A recent trailer has revealed the involvement of multiple Bayonettas, though Platinum continues to keep tight-lipped on any details surrounding the story. Harmful to this effort are online spoilers in its wake Bayonetta 3 copy into distribution.
Bayonetta 3‘s subreddit posted a thread dedicated to spoilers, authored by u/-Joozhuah-, who noted that with copies of the game now apparently in circulation, other threads would effectively be locked. Outside of the relevant thread, spoilers will be met with a ban, which will not be reversed until at least 7 days after Bayonetta 3the launch, with the restriction expected to be lifted “around November 10.” The strict crackdown followed several videos being uploaded to YouTube, which included a significant portion of the game, but have since been removed by Nintendo.
Leaks are an unfortunately ubiquitous element of the video game industry, whether they’re unannounced titles, narrative details, or footage in development. Rockstar Games recently fell victim to an unprecedented hack, which saw approximately 90 clips off Grand Theft Auto 6 footage uploaded to GTAForums, showing the currently unfinished state of a game that is years away from release. Just days later, it was discovered that TheRealInsider, whose Twitter account had leaked the soon-to-be announced Assassin’s Creed projects, was actually YouTuber DanAllenGaming, who was simply entrusted with sensitive information and later breached non-disclosure agreements via an anonymous profile.
Bayonetta 3 has not only suffered from potential spoilers, but has also recently been surrounded by controversy due to claims of former Bayonetta voice actress Helena Taylor, who claimed she had been offered just $4,000 to reprise her role as the much-loved protagonist. Believing the amount to be an insult, it was claimed that Taylor was later replaced with Jennifer Hale, a well-known voice actress for video game franchises. However, recent reporting contradicts Taylor’s statement, with it being reported that the stated value was actually for each session, of which there would have been 5, and PlatinumGames has since released a statement backing Hale.
Bayonetta 3 launches on October 28, 2022 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
