The 2017 cancellation of Xbox exclusive action-RPG, Scalebound, was a bit of a sore one for Microsoft fans to have to deal with. An explosive monster-slaying extravaganza from the maestros at PlatinumGames, what we managed to catch of its gameplay from various E3 presentations and showcases since its first announcement in 2015 certainly led us to believe we were all in for quite a treat, and the whole thing looked to be promisingly far along in terms of development.
The cancellation came as something of a surprise then, however, it seems Hideki Kamiya hasn't fully given up on the idea of reviving the project just yet. After telling fans to write Phil Spencer a letter if they'd like to see the IP revived in an interview with GameXplain back in 2020, the PlatinumGames vice president reiterated his interest in an interview with IGN Japan last week:
"We did a lot of work on it, and it's no use Microsoft keeping the game in its current form, so we'd like to do something about it. Phil! Let's do it together!"
His genuine interest in making a return to the game was confirmed in the IGN interview by PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba, who told the outlet that:
"Kamiya has always wanted to do Scalebound. So we'd like to have a proper discussion with Microsoft."
Now, in a more recent interview with VGC, Kamiya has once again reaffirmed his desire to return to Scalebound, telling the website that:
"Having gotten somewhere with it, as a creator I'd like to see it to the end. And I hear fans saying they really want to play that game, which is too bad, and I want to give that to them when I hear that."
"...I’ve had some time to think and yeah, I’d like to try making Scalebound again. That’s my feeling."
When questioned on whether or not there had been any actual progress in terms of meaningful discussions with Microsoft, Kamiya told VGC that he could neither confirm or deny anything, but that "we could be talking to Microsoft."
"I can’t confirm or deny anything, but we could be talking to Microsoft. But we could also be talking to Nintendo, Sony, Capcom, Konami or anybody!"
Scalebound certainly seems to be a project that Kamiya has still got a personal investment in, whether it be through a genuine belief that the game could still do well, or just out of a sense of duty to return and get the thing done. He took to Twitter to apologise for its cancellation back in 2017 and also took some responsibility for the project derailing during an episode of the Kamiya Chronicles on Youtube where he said:
"I'm sorry to the players who looked forward to it, and moreover I'm sorry to Microsoft, who had placed their trust in us as a business partner...I want to apologize both as a creator and as a member of PlatinumGames."
Of course, none of this means we're likely see a revival of Scalebound any time soon, and Phil Spencer even shot down talk of a resurrection of the IP in 2020. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with this one!
Would you like to see Scalebound revived or should PlatinumGames move on from the idea? Let us know in the comments!
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 36
Phil: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me
This all just smacks of desperation...
@MattWithoutFear ...and a bit of repentance. It seems clear Kamiya is disappointed with both himself and Platinum Games on how they handled Scalebound. It seems he'd like to fix that. It's a very Japanese thing we don't see much of in the West.
Somebody buy these guys so they stop making these tweets. Please.
Capcom take them back.
@themightyant
In the west we also like to fix things, if we get payed for the fix
@themightyant surely repentance would be mentioning it once and moving on? However, this has been coming up repeatedly over the last few weeks in interviews they've done like they're trying to "Snyderverse" it into existence. Truly repentant people don't wait 4 years to say sorry and then constantly bring up the fact they're available to work on it now.
How close to going under is Platinum?
@themightyant
**...and a bit of repentance. It seems clear Kamiya is disappointed with both himself and Platinum Games on how they handled Scalebound.**
If it is indeed a bit of repentance as you suggest, then PG should start by porting to Xbox The Wonderful 101 remaster - they acted like bitter p****s by porting it to all platforms under the Sun and then shunned Xbox, all because MS pulled the plug on their Scalebound miss management...
This was the main reason I wanted an Xbox One at launch, till Don Mattrick opened his mouth.
Honestly, sick of hearing about it now. If they feel that badly about it they should finish the game and release it for Xbox without Microsoft's involvement. Building bridges and all that
Platinum has been super weird these last couple of weeks.
I don't think it's a good idea. Platinum's latest games were not very good. They are sinking slowly but surely.
At this point I wish Microsoft would go on record and say Thier not interested so we get no more we need money begging news from this lot
@CrazyJF If you look at their full release history there's probably more misses than hits. But I agree they could do with some financial stability to allow them to make the games they want, hopefully hits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlatinumGames#Games_developed
@MattWithoutFear Picking Scalebound back was initially only mentioned in just the IGN Japan interview. VGC specifically asked about it as a follow up. If you're seeing it everywhere that's because it's potentially interesting news and other news outlets have followed up with additional questions.
As the article states he initially apologised several years ago and has said several times since he regrets how Scalebound was handled. That sounds pretty normal and human to me, regrets don't go away and don't have time limits.
It's funny, the last how many years, they seem to have been working on many exclsuives, either for PS, or Switch, and yet, they have been pretty much begging MS to revive Scalebound, and even hinted at a buyout.
They have 3 non-xbox games coming out this year. So why are they so eager to get in to bed with MS and Xbox?.
The only thing I can think of is that they like the attention and hype that accompanies exclusive games, and want to round out their library to include the one market they are missing.
Maybe it will come to PlayStation.
Personally I was disappointed that MS opted to cancel instead of persevering - especially as they 'persevered' with Crackdown 3 that looked far worse to me...
I'd be delighted to hear that Scalebound is going to be 'finished' as I think that modern hardware would also 'help' realise the ambition without compromising performance so much...
#SaveScalebound
@themightyant I missed that bit about his original apology way back when - fair point - but this resurgence of Scalebound attention started in Nov'21 and has been snowballing since then. Maybe it's because of today's news cycle where everyone wants a piece of the pie but Platinum aren't shying away from drawing attention to it and are calling out MS publically to keep focus on the matter.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-11-20-platinumgames-director-hideki-kamiya-apologises-to-microsoft-for-scalebound-cancellation
@MattWithoutFear I think that interview makes it pretty clear he is repentant about how they handled Scalebound. It's very apologetic and Japanese. That's kinda what I was getting at in my initial post.
It doesn't mention re-starting Scalebound at all, that's only cropped up in the last week or so. Likely in part because of all the media attention this last article got made a lot of fans clamour for the game again.
Kamiya should stop being a diva. Maybe he was the reason xbox canned the project, and thus, his many cries for "resurrecting" it.
@Sol4ris Agree!
If there is goodwill, start bringing games to Xbox. It's like they're just asking for Microsoft's money, again. Who knows what for.
@Banjo-
Yes, they are working on several projects for different platforms with nothing for Xbox and yet want to revive /resume work on Scalebound. If their interest is genuine, supporting Xbox would a good start.
**It's like they're just asking for Microsoft's money, again. Who knows for what.**
Probably to finish their ongoing projects Babylon's Fall etc.
@Sol4ris Exactly!
@themightyant I think you're just taking a more optimistic view of it and I'm being more cynical. To me it seems like it got brought up, he said he was sorry for the way it went down and held his hands up, saw the public attention and buzz around Scalebound coming back into focus and is trying to ride it to a new project. There's a lot of talk about how they're in trouble internally and things are sinking, and to me (and no doubt others) it looks like he's trying to reach for branches to stay afloat.
@MattWithoutFear That's probably fair.
I truly hope Platinum aren't in trouble. While I don't put them on the pedestal many do, they still make brilliant games... occasionally
@themightyant on that we can agree. I absolutely loved Astral Chain!
@MattWithoutFear On that we can agree too, brilliant game!
"MICROSOFT PURISU LISTEN TO ME I AM DEAD SERIAL"
Al Gore all over again.
So they just want Microsoft's money to finish other projects?
There's no positive spin on Platinum's behavior and trends over the past few years. There's no way they can be financially stable with the financial outlay they have versus what they actually sell, and their attention grabbing is getting ever more blatantly desperate. For the size studio they have, their output is pretty poor and their sales don't match the scale. They've already taken investment from Tencent, switched to service games, kickstarted their actual release (then backdoor billed kickstarter contributors for their reward), Bayo's been sitting forever, and while Nintendo only releases games when it suits them, if it was really in the can like Kamiya kept saying, why would they not have released it during their 2 year major game drought while Switch was selling like water in a desert? I never trust Nintendo, but Kamiya's claims seem shady from the start.
They can do really great things sometimes, but nothing about that studio seems especially healthy, and it's becoming visible when they speak.
@NEStalgia I am admittedly not a big fan of their work and always took them as a slightly over-rated studio. They had a chance of making this game back when Xbox figuratively and kinda literally had no games. I don't see how now Scalebound can be a top priority for a company that has Bethesda and Activision on top of its expanded XGS.
His wording tells me Microsoft isn't worrying about that game.
That footage looks better than I remembered. I'd be all for a resurrection of this game.
Before I buy any console it has to have five games that are out or confirmed for the system. Scalebound was the fifth game in my intial list that made me buy a Xbox One. Then it got cancelled, which I was well peeved at as I'm a fan of Japanese games and Platinum.
Though Platinum games dont usually sell massive numbers as they are niche, the likes of Bayonetta did well and I think Scalebound would have been in that Ballpark.
I have most of Platinum's games across various systems, I think the only one I dont have on a actual system I own is the TMNT game they did.
So would I like Microsoft to give Platinum another chance at delivering Scalebound? Yes as it's concept is one I liked and being a Platinum game they always have certain play mechanics. Another developer would not capture that.
So yes I would like to see Scalebound get a second chance. Of course it wont be on my trusty Xbox One. But it would be a game going towards that list of five to convince me to get a Xbox Series X in the future. At the Moment there's only one title coming to the system thats making the count and that's the new King of Fighters game. As everything else I want to play on Xbox is playable on my Xbox One at present.
Note to Phil , you need to make sure new games now are Xbox Series only as what reason do people have to upgrade ,
@BrilliantBill
I really think Bayonetta, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, Nier Automata and MG Revengence were their best games to date. They did a bunch of work that wasn't nearly as good though.
All-in-all I think their problem is funding. With more money they could do a lot of great stuff I think. Personally, I would like to see MS or Sony buy them. Both could give them the backing needed to be the studio they can be.
Yes, Scalebound looks interesting but the problem is that the developer is difficult to trust in terms of budget management and development progress. Knowing how stingy Nintendo is, I wonder what the Bayonetta 2 and 3 terms were.
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