Breaking: Scalebound May Be Cancelled Entirely

Kotaku is reporting that Scalebound may be cancelled entirely. Microsoft seems pretty troubled when it comes to releasing new IP and new third party exclusives to their console so this will be a sad blow to the company in my opinion. Not sure if this is because the already troubled development hit more snags or that Platinum got caught working on too many projects at once and couldn't quite crack the game but either way an official announcement is expected for later today.

Even as a casual Xbone user this really sucks.

Man, Platinum's been shaky for a minute but at least I had faith in Kamiya. That sucks. Hopefully he'll make a multiplat game next so I can play it!

I didn't like what I saw so it's not a loss to me but it is a pretty big deal for what was held to be a high profile game.

Somebody get them a deal with Capcom for Okami 2. Kamiya said he wants to do it.

Okay, just release it for PS4 instead and we're good.

Can Kamiya catch a break with his projects please. I wasn't super excited for Scalebound, but at least he was working on an original concept again. Killing it after all this time is definitely a bummer.

I guess I'll just look at the bright side and hope he has a better idea to work on that I might like more conceptually?

That`s a bummer. I can`t say I cared much for what I have seen from Scalebound, but I am always willing to give the creator of the best Zelda game a chance. Looking forward to seeing what Kamiya does next (Bayonetta 3 or Okami 2 please).

A shame, but after that E3 demo this past year, I lost all interest in it. It just looked like mindless, boring button presses to attack a giant enemy that showed little sign of taking any damage, then multiplayer I don't want.

This game was never really going to fit my interests, but it was interesting none the less. And it all looked fairly far along at E3 as well. Oh well, hopefully they can at least salvage some assets from the project.

Was anyone looking at this as a great game? If so, I'm genuinely sorry to hear this, but overwhelmingly, the impression I've been getting has been lukewarm at best. If they know it's a floating turd, then by all means, flush it, no matter the talent behind it. If they've got another great idea, they'll move on. If not, then let's look forward to seeing what the next generation of developers come up with.

and there goes any temptation of me buying an Xbox one.

Not that it looked all that great lately, but Scalebound was one of the very few exclusives that made Xbox One at least look interesting to me.

I'm in the camp of people initially excited for Scalebound because of fond Bayonetta memories, that subsequently lost all interest in the game because of the lackluster gameplay footage and partly the shaky track record that Platinum has been accumulating over the past several releases.

To be fair, that demo they showed off was preeeeeeeeeeeeeetty lackluster. This wouldn't surprise me at all.

I really have to wonder what on earth Microsofts strategy is. I honestly can't figure out what they're trying to do with their exclusives at this point. They must be banking hard on Scorpio doing well, and maybe they have a few surprise games lined up for that.

I feel bad for @drewbert. When will there ever be another game with Drew as the protagonist?!

The bottom line is the game could be not working or not good and worth finishing. We don't know. Platinum has put out some bad games recently.

While I wasn't in the camp of "super excited" I was in the camp of "can you make something interesting for this system I rarely turn on?" I think my excitement was turned tepid after that last terrible co-op trailer they released maybe like a year and a half ago? I'm still curious wtf they are doing with Crackdown, if anything.

Well, I wasn't too excited for it, but it's a shame if an at least cool-looking original idea gets shut down. I don't put much stock in this being a continuation of their "previous lackluster releases", as I pretty much agree with Jason's A-team, B-team theory. Maybe Microsoft got cold feet and decided taking chances is a bad idea? Platinum to develop next Halo spin-off!

Anyway though, Nier looks great!

RIP

NieR: Automata has a demo on psn, i think Ms can't work with devs that are not first party, what's next Crackdown ?

only time will tell

More like Failbound xD

*flame shield up*

Scalebound, was that the one that looked like Monster Hunter but with a super-douchy protagonist?

It really feels like Platinum has been spreading themselves far too thin. Maybe a bump in the road will get them back on track. Regardless, it's always sad to see something that people put time and energy in fall apart.

I feel really saddened by this. I love every Hideki Kamiya game, and even if this had issues in demos I had so faith.

I just feel that Microsoft might have a pretty bad relationship with Japanese developers. I mean look at how they handled D4 and what that did to Swery.. and now this. Will any Japanese studio ever want to work with Microsoft after this? Both blew up hard.

Hopefully he can take some time off then be back working with Nintendo again. Wonderful 101 is one of my favorite games of the last few years.

Lionhead was 1st party so I don't think that matters at all. Hoping for the best with Crackdown.

I'd love to be excited about a Platinum game again after their recent string of ok-to-awful licensed mercenary work, but... I'm not entirely sure Scalebound was going to be what I wanted either, if that E3 demo was any impression.

Man... :( I was just thinking about this game last night. My xbox one is in the corner covered with dust just waiting to play something new/exciting. Guess it'll just have to stay there.

all in for Nier now i suppose

Something weird is happening to Platinum, when was the last time they actually put out a good game?

That sucks for Xbox users, but what after what I saw at E3, I was extremely unimpressed.

I had no idea that was Platinum doing this honestly.

Is anyone really surprised though? It was announced, went dark, and then when they finally did show it off, nearly everyone was underwhelmed.

It's weird to see Microsoft get most of the blame though. Not trying to defend them or anything, but Platinum's track record had been spotty for a while now. Whose to say Platinum couldn't make it work and Microsoft just said fuck it and gave it the axe?

@jonny_anonymous: Haven't all of the recent games been their B team, with the A team making Nioh?

It looked terrible anyway, sadly.

Woof. I thought it had potential. Could become a neat DMC-ish RPG .

The last time they released a non-budget, non-licensed game that had creative and technical direction solely from the inside of the company. That would be Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101 before it.

But honestly, Scalebound was looking less and less interesting with every showing. I might sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I doubt that it's all on Platinum given Microsoft's track record with third-party exclusives. I think there was some meddling with creative vision. Some...demands.

Can't say I'm shocked, it looked real bad when it was shown.

Have to wonder about Crackdown 3 to, where's that been?

That's not even a hard question, Bayonetta 2. Everything since then has been "OK" at best.

I really hope Neir: Automata does well for them. After a quick look at the PlatinumGames wikipedia page that seems to be all they have left for the foreseeable future.

I didn't even realize Scalebound was supposed to be an Xbox-only game.

Shows how much I was paying attention, and I've been casually looking forward to that game!

It's official

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/09/microsoft-confirms-scalebound-is-cancelled

A Microsoft representative provided the following statement to IGN:

“After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound. We’re working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and other great experiences.”

Microsoft further pointed to a recent post on its official site about its additional plans for 2017.

@slag: if you were only buying an Xbox because you wanted to play Scalebound, you would have been disappointed even if it did come out. Plenty of other reasons to buy one.

I'm kinda surprised they didn't just push the game out. I figured completing and releasing Scalebound makes as much financial sense as the Voodoo Vince remaster...

This makes me wonder whether Platinum asked for a considerable amount of additional time and money to finish the game, and MS decided to just cut their losses and get out now. Hopefully we'll get a post-mortem, one day.

No, Nioh's being developed by Tecmo. Platinum's A team has to be working on Nier.

@creepingdeath0:

Sadly, I expect Nier to do well for a Platinum game, but that's about it. Like, I don't think it's going to bomb per se, but I doubt we're gonna see any articles about how well it sold if you catch my drift. It's the sequel to a niche title, starring a niche protagonist (anime girl in dress doesn't exactly scream wide appeal), made by a developer who doesn't exactly pump out blockbusters. I don't know if Square has been promoting this much, but the only people I see who are really pumped about it are people like you and me.

I too would love for Automata to do well - it's one of the games I'm looking forward to most this year - but the odds seemed stacked against it.

That sucks. The concept was really cool but every time they showed that game it looked like complete shit.

At this point going forward, I'm inclined to believe that Microsoft is pushing hard for the "games as a service" mantra. Longer life span, more spending over a greater amount of time, that sort of thing. There is some speculation that Microsoft wanted Scalebound to change it's course and emulate something like Destiny or Monster Hunter more than it was, and when it was clear that it wasn't living up to that expectation they pulled the plug. I think that's their strategy going forward, as they also slowly push their brand towards "Windows 10 gaming" rather than "Xbox gaming".

Scalebound was looking kind of bad so maybe this not coming out is a good thing? Automata is the Platinum game I'm going to buy this year anyway so this doesn't really change things for me.

Edit : It's not just me is it, is Microsoft is cancelling a lot of projects that had big presences at E3s? Crackdown 3 is nowhere in sight and the less said about Phantom Dust the better.

You might say Microsoft are scaling back on their exclusives. I wonder where they are bound to end up with the Scorpio.

blinx the time sweeper you are my only hope.

@kanerobot: what I meant is that this was more or a less last straw that I saw that had a chance to be a potentially compelling exclusive for me personally. Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break and Recore didn't really deliver either. That's about all the caught my eye. Maybe Crackdown 3 will be good if it ships.

TBH Xbox One never had much of a chance with me as I'm not a Gears or Halo guy which is why I never bought one.

It's just sad because I think it's better for everybody if they have a large varied slate of compelling games on the system.