Before I begin with a deeper point, I would like to say that I find to actually be unfortunate news. Granted, the original Bayonetta wasn't the fondest experience I ever had; I actually found Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge to be a much more enjoyable game... and that was the weak point in that series. Still, Bayonetta had some qualities of its own.
HOWEVA, there is an important takeaway from this: Nintendo shouldn't chase after M-rated games. Now, before anyone goes nuts, that's not to say that Nintendo platforms shouldn't have M-rated games at all, but this whole idea that Nintendo should be throwing money at publishers to get M-rated titles for the sake of image is silly beyond belief. It's a dead-end strategy that serves no short or long term purpose, as a sufficient market for these games simply doesn't exist on Nintendo platforms of any sort, not just the Wii U.
Let's break this down... did the Capcom 5 and the M-rated games that Gamecube would sometimes/eventually get create a viable market for those games during the time and for the future? No...
Did the sudden emergence of "mature/hardcore" games, like Modern Warfare Reflex, Madworld, The Conduit, and the Resident Evil Chronicles series (albeit half-baked spin-offs...) give the Wii the perception so many in the industry thought Nintendo needed and establish an audience for those games? Nope...
Has getting games like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Metal Gear Snake Eater 3D, and Resident Evil Revelations made Nintendo's portables more viable to M-rated titles and the like? Not exactly...
And lastly, have Call of Duty HD, Assassin's Creed, Batman Arkham, Splinter Cell, Zombi U, Mass Effect 3, and now Bayonetta (just to name a few...) done the Wii U any major favors? Well... :(
If you don't learn from history... Now, I know a popular argument these days is that Nintendo needs "diversity" with its software lineup. The problem with that statement is that the word "diversity" doesn't mean what it should; those who say this just want what they consider to be "normalcy," which is anything but a diverse lineup of games. Diversity, real diversity, is what Nintendo had a few short years ago... and has now gotten scared out of doing again. No one's asking for Cooking Mama's, arcadey sports games, or entirely new ideas but rather the same games they can, and do, get elsewhere.
The problem here is that as long as Nintendo is one of three hardware makers in the industry and as long as its bread is buttered by Mario and Pokemon, the company is never going to be the go-to company for games like Bayonetta to fly off shelves. Heck, even if Nintendo was the only name in town, I don't think the idea works, but I'm more inclined to believe I could be wrong on that much. These aren't games that compliment Nintendo's key titles well or attract those that Nintendo's best-and-brightest typically attract. I'm not saying that Nintendo shouldn't be attracting third parties, either, but I'm still a huge believer that they have to be much more creative in doing so than money-hatting for M-rated titles that are going to sell six digits... at BEST.
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