PlatinumGames president and studio head Atsushi Inaba has indicated that the developer still has plans for Bayonetta, saying he wants to expand the character and her world even as the studio remains quiet about what comes next. The comments came during a Famitsu interview with Inaba and Shift Up CEO and Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung-tae, held around the companies’ recent Bayonetta collaboration. Inaba stopped short of confirming a new game, but his remarks are one of the clearest recent indications that PlatinumGames has not moved on from the franchise.
When Famitsu asked whether PlatinumGames had decided on its next move for Bayonetta, Inaba said he could not answer that question at present. He added, however, that he strongly wants to expand Bayonetta as a character and broaden her world, telling fans to wait and see what form that eventually takes. When the interviewer pushed specifically on whether that meant waiting for the next game, Inaba declined to comment.
The exchange also included a joking reference to continuing the franchise as far as “Bayonetta 10,” after Kim praised Bayonetta’s design and said the original game’s appeal had endured. The conversation took place alongside a Stellar Blade collaboration that brings Bayonetta-themed costumes to Shift Up’s action game, with Kim openly expressing his admiration for the series. That context makes Inaba’s wording notable, although it still should not be interpreted as confirmation that Bayonetta 4 or any other specific project is currently in development.
The comments are particularly significant because PlatinumGames has lost several developers closely associated with Bayonetta over the past few years. Series creator Hideki Kamiya left the company in 2023, while Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon director Abebe Tinari later departed for Housemarque. Bayonetta 3 director Yusuke Miyata was also among a group of veteran PlatinumGames developers reported to have left the studio, alongside Astral Chain director Takahisa Taura, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance director Kenji Saito and designer Masaki Yamanaka.
Those departures raised questions about how PlatinumGames would handle franchises tied closely to its longtime creative leads. Inaba’s latest comments suggest that Bayonetta remains part of the studio’s plans despite those personnel changes, even if the precise direction has not been decided publicly. Similar uncertainty has surrounded other veteran-led studios as senior developers move between teams, including recent senior staff departures at KEMURI developer UNSEEN, where leadership changes have also drawn attention to how projects evolve after key creators leave.
The most recent standalone Bayonetta release was Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, which launched for Nintendo Switch in March 2023. Rather than following the mainline games’ combat structure, Origins explored Cereza’s earlier life through a storybook-style action-adventure built around controlling both Cereza and the demon Cheshire. That game already demonstrated one way PlatinumGames could broaden the series beyond its traditional numbered entries, which gives Inaba’s reference to expanding Bayonetta’s “world” additional relevance.
For now, PlatinumGames has announced no new mainline Bayonetta game. Inaba also said during the interview that the studio has yet to release a title for Nintendo Switch 2, although he described the hardware as having significant potential. Until PlatinumGames makes a formal announcement, the safest reading is that the company wants to continue developing the Bayonetta property in some form, while the exact project, platform and release plans remain unconfirmed.
