Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 will be removed from the European and Japanese Wii U eShops at midnight on September 18. Recently, notices have appeared on the eShop’s download pages for Bayonetta 2 informing customers that the popular hack-and-slash games will be removed, thus concluding their run on the Wii U console.

For the time being, it appears that the Bayonetta games will continue to be available in the North American eShop. So, while the future of Bayonetta’s eShop tenure is nebulous, it’s probable that it will only be a matter of time before the games are discontinued in North America. Players shouldn’t fret, however, as Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 will still be available on Nintendo Switch.

Both Bayonetta games will be removed from the Japanese Wii U eShop at 23:59 JST, while its European counterpart will be removed on 23:59 CEST.

Although this news may not be troubling to everyone (especially if you already own hard copies of the games or have purchased them for the Switch), it seems indicative of the Wii U’s dwindling presence in the limelight compared to the Switch. It can be inferred that Nintendo is starting to completely disregard the Wii U in favor of the Nintendo Switch, and giving the ax to some of its most popular games leaves a mark on the chopping block.

This announcement might worry those who haven’t made the switch from the Wii U to the Switch. Since the Switch is now Nintendo’s cash cow, it seems silly that it would want to continue to pool its resources into the Wii U, which was discontinued in 2017. From a marketing perspective, this transition is natural and inevitable. Still, this might hit a nerve with some fans, since the Bayonetta series became mainstream through the Wii U.

Bayonetta was developed by PlatinumGames and published by Sega. While the game was initially released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2009/2010, Bayonetta, along with its sequel, Bayonetta 2, was released for the Wii U in September 2014. The original Bayonetta was later given a Microsoft Windows release and both games were released on the Nintendo Switch on February 2018. A third game, Bayonetta 3, is currently in development and slated to be released on the Switch.

Source: Nintendo