Has Bayonetta 2 been cancelled?

In 2010, Sega seemingly struck gold with Platinum Games’ Bayonetta.  A new ip which had a lot of promise for a sequel that had been rumored to be in the works, very well may have been cancelled.  “A source familiar with the situation” has told Spong that due to SEGA’s company-wide restructuring efforts, the game’s development has been halted.

Further details suggest that Bayonetta 2 was set to reveal a new character, and the game had been in the pre-production design stage before being shelved.  Sega has recently made headlines as the last of a long line of gaming companies airing their financial dirty laundry during quarterly reports.  With the poor financials, SEGA had announced that they would be facing layoffs and other cost cutting measures in an attempt to turn the company’s fortunes around.

Bayonetta 2 would definitely be a risk for the publisher.  While the original game was a critical success, Bayonetta didn’t do very well at retail.   Since Bayonetta 2 was never officially announced, it’s likely that we never hear more about the situation, if this rumor holds up to be true.