Scalebound: A Post Mortem Look

[Stellar]

Honestly this game always looked pretty damn boring to me. I love the idea of a giant monster action game by Platinum, but everything they showed off was rather underwhelming IMO (the dragon link mechanic did sound interesting though). This is one of the few high profile cases of cancellation where I can totally see why the publishers felt justified to do this.

Granted, it may very well be possible that Microsoft made Platinum pull back on some of their gameplay ideas and forced them to include certain other features instead (like say, multiplayer). Would be amazing if jschreier could do an article on this game's development history.

Either way, great write-up.

 

[Burrman]

I was so excited with this game when first revealed. But after the second gameplay trailer, I had to force myself to be interested. That co op gameplay looked horrible.

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

x

 

[JayWood2010]

I thought the game looked great, but there was so many people complaining about how the game either looked boring or had terrible FPS. It is too bad the game never released. I genuinely thought it looked good. I know the character was a little quirky, but it didnt bother me.

 

[MondoWray]

This one had me tempted to buy an Xbox One. I was disappointed to see the cancellation and was worried for Platinum but things turned out alright for them.

I wonder if we'll see any of the work resurface in another project.

 

[heman222]

And here I am still waiting for my personal dream dragon game. This one came so close , yet it was not meant to be. :(
I always wanted to play a 'dragon' dragon game, kinda like the PS2 hulk games but with dragons. Well, I am a patient man and I dont think this is an idea that platinum would just drop without salvaging something out of it. So fingers crossed!.

 

[Gemeanie]

This one had me tempted to buy an Xbox One. I was disappointed to see the cancellation and was worried for Platinum but things turned out alright for them.

I wonder if we'll see any of the work resurface in another project.

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Same here
I was looking for Xbox One deal until the game was officially cancelled. Not exactly impressed by the protagonist design and the later gameplay trailer but having a giant pet dragon at my command is my wet dream

 

[MondoWray]

Same here
I was looking for Xbox One deal until the game was officially cancelled. Not exactly impressed by the protagonist design and the later gameplay trailer but having a giant pet dragon at my command is my wet dream

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It certainly didn't look particularly polished or necessarily well designed but it had a certain wonderfully eccentric Japanese feel to it, one that Platinum have consistently brought to the table.

 

[Jez]

Thanks for stopping by with the info Jez, appreciate the work you do at WC.

As for your post, that's a lot to take in.

I cant say its surprising how many people were caught off guard by this projects cancellation as the very idea of them canceling a AAA RPG made by an famed Japanese developer when their lineup was looking the way it did was seemingly crazy. That's without getting into Xbox's already nonexistent rep in Japan, and situations like True Fantasy Online. Here we are a year later and almost nothing has changed, no replacements to look forward to, E3 2018 still more than half a year away, and not a single sign of Xbox popping up anywhere until then. Looking back your absolutely on the money, you could see this general attitude towards them pick up almost immediately after the cancellation, and it hasn't gone anywhere since. All the smash hit indie titles and cute platformers in the world aren't going to change that, as much as I enjoy them. Ill be getting a One X as well, but that's to enhance my existing library rather than any anticipation of what's to come.

I don't have much of a comment on the P* diverting funds info besides that's some serious shit if they did and would explain just how quickly everything went down, but the odds of that coming to light at this point I'm guessing are pretty low.

I just wish they would have taken what they had and did something with it instead of scrapping everything and letting all that work sit around some basement in Redmond. But then again if you look at their history, there's at least a lot of stuff down there keeping Scalebound company.

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Yeah, Microsoft knew this would leave a gap in their lineup and be terrible PR, but they did it anyway, makes me think it must have been something serious... like the diverting investments thing, but who knows. Hard to say. I know they didn't make that decision lightly, in any case.

Thanks for the kind comments, we're doing our best. :3

 

[User Tron]

Well I bought a Xbox One for that game. Thanks MS.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

I honestly didn't know what to think of it at first. It looked like it could be okay, but never stood out much. Then I saw the E3 trailer from two events ago, and thought it looked...atrocious. At that point, I didn't have interest in playing it, especially after seeing how they'd shoehorned co-op in, and how rough it looked.

I feel bad for those who were excited, but it did nothing for me.

 

[Illusion]

The game had a ton of promise, any respect I had for Xbox was gone after this was canceled. They clearly don't know how to support a console or understand how audiences work.

edit: Still sad thinking of how much time Kamiya wasted on this and how Platinum took a dive.

Edit edit: Actually I wonder if canceling the game was intentional so Microsoft could cripple Platinum financially and then buy them out later at a discount.

 

[Cyanity]

The death of dragon bros friendship tour still haunts me to this day. I hope Platinum manages to create their dragon game someday.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I really want Kotaku or Eurogamer to do a deeper dive and examine the production of this game.

 

[medyej]

I would have bought an Xbone for this game. As janky as it looked, the idea being 'Kamiya/Platinum developed game where you ride a dragon and fight other dragons' was just too good to pass up.

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

The game had a ton of promise, any respect I had for Xbox was gone after this was canceled. They clearly don't know how to support a console or understand how audiences work.

edit: Still sad thinking of how much time Kamiya wasted on this and how Platinum took a dive.

Edit edit: Actually I wonder if canceling the game was intentional so Microsoft could cripple Platinum financially and then buy them out later at a discount.

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Why would you want to buy platinum whose commercial hits are few and far between

 

[despair]

Yeah, it's a tragedy that this is never coming out.

 

[jackal27]

Thanks for all the work OP.

I don't own an Xbox One so I wouldn't have gotten to play it anyway, but as a fan of Platinum I was still really excited to see how it would turn out... Still super bummed it got cancelled. Hopefully some of the ideas here get implemented into a future project. It's crazy just how much we saw of this game before its cancellation.

 

[Andokuky]

Nice thread.

I thought the game looked terrible each time it was shown and didn't care when it was canceled.

 

[ElBoxy]

Edit edit: Actually I wonder if canceling the game was intentional so Microsoft could cripple Platinum financially and then buy them out later at a discount.

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I think you need to lay off the conspiracy kool-aid. That makes no dam sense from a business angle.

 

[Deleted member 1062]

I bought an Xbox One for this game. I no longer have an Xbox One

 

[Deleted member 1839]

While the showing of the game wasnt anything stellar, the concept itself is the most interesting thing that platinum would have tackled imo. The fucking 4 player coop with dragon was awesome too....shame all around that it was canned.

 

[Green Mario]

One of the few reasons I decided to buy an Xbox One. It looked kind of janky, but in a Nier kind of way. It just looked like something I'd enjoy.

 

[Sander VF]

I would kill (a bug) for an investigative article on this game's development like we had on Viscerals Star Wars.

 

[OniBaka]

Personally I wasn't interested but I didn't want platinum almost dying because of it, NieR automata is my goty atm.

Also it was placed quite high on the other sites most wanted list, for e.g. More were looking forward to it than the new gears of war 4.

 

[Datajoy]

I really appreciate this tidy distillation of the Scalebound saga, OP.

If this game delivered it would have been a system seller for me.

 

[Phil's Empty Chair]

Was really lookng forward to it. Kamiya's dream game wiill forever be a dream I'm afraid. Great OP btw.

 

[D_K]

It was on of the few reason I wanted a One. I still bought the console but it's so sad as a big fan of Platinum...

 

[Mediking]

Wow... amazing OP work by Zeta Ori

 

[GamingEnthusiast]

Great thread. Thanks for the link to Windows Central too. I'd been DM'd some rumors about Scalebound being killed, but I didn't believe it, figured there was no way Microsoft would kill such a big flagship project. I'd recently interviewed Hideki Kamiya and JP Kellams who both seemed really upbeat about the project, so it just seemed really odd that this kinda rumor would be circulating. Later that same day, I got a call from Microsoft, offering us early access to some news on the state of Scalebound. I was pretty stunned.

We had a brief 15 minute Q&A, they wouldn't offer details on why it had been killed. I asked about the gap it was gonna leave in Microsoft's lineup, and they gave a typical PR response pointing to other games in the lineup (many of which have now been delayed). I think it was pretty soon after Scalebound got killed that the central criticism of today's Xbox started focusing on exclusives, and I don't think that's going to go away any time soon.

A few weeks later and after a few conversations with people I know who were involved with the project (no names, sry), the impression I was given was that Platinum missed a few development milestones. There was definitely a sense, at least a rumor, within Microsoft that PG was essentially putting Microsoft's $$$ towards projects like Nier Automata. Whether that's true or not I don't know, I never got PG's side of the story, so take that with a pinch of salt (and that's why I never published that rumor really). I was also told that the main character was a point of contention, considered to be unappealing to mainstream Western audiences. Again, don't know if 100% true.

I think Scalebound would've been really good if things had gone better. I saw the game running at E3 on a console that year and, sure it was a demo, but it seemed really solid, at least conceptually.

I'm happy over all with my Xbox, but that's mainly because of third-party games. I think for those who are concerned about missing out on exclusives will continue to consider the Xbox a tough sell, even with 6TF.

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This thread is already a classic. First, OP's wonderfully informative post-mortem of Scalebound and equally compelling replies to his post, especially yours. Its such a shame that a great developer such as Kamiya would have his passion project cancelled due to a lack of trust. That man single-handedly saved Okami from being a total mess during its early stages of development (from what I recall).

I hope Kamiya and PlatinumGames don't throw out the assets of Scalebound and use it instead to make a new IP similar to it.

 

[Trup1aya]

I wanted to like this game because it was An exclusive, but it always looked boring to me.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

In a dream scenario Square Enix buys what was done from Microsoft and Yoko Taro and platinum make a new Drakengard game.

 

[Haze]

Game looked so good man. Was very excited for it and it still stings :(

 

[nikasun :D]

Should I ever be in a different industry, I hope to bring more information to you guys.

 

[BBboy20]

Me thinking about this game.

Click to shrink...

I never noticed he had such bright eyes.

 

[Ruffstuff]

So sad when good games die hopefully it will come back in some form

 

[Ausroachman]

I really loved the few snippets of gameplay they showed , but I did not like the headphone wearing main guy , that and there music is what put me off .

Such a shame Microsoft liked it off , hey NEED exclusives and they need it NOW .

 

[UltraGunner]

I freakin bought an Xbox One for this game. When it got canceled I sold it to go towards a GTX 1080. I think I made the right call since everything of worth is also on PC now.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Fantastic thread and a great read. I was following this game but I missed many of the things you showed.

I was really looking forward to this game, but as it's the case with the recent Star Wars game cancellation, it's better to let it die rather than releasing a mess. They've been working on it for years and what they showed wasn't looking too hot, as much as the concepts sounded great. I would have loved a game like this on Xbox, guess Monster Hunter reaching a Microsoft console for the first time will sort of do it.

As a side note, games where dynamic AI companion(s) is a key feature, things often turn to shit rapidly. Daikatana was supposed to have superrealistic AI allies, and ironically enough the game wasn't bad, the major problem was how trash the AI was. The Last Guardian could also have been greater than it was had the companion AI been more precise and comfortable to use. Seems to be a difficult task to make something like this without it feeling frustrating or simply not fun, and I wonder if that contributed to the game's problems.

 

[AbandonedTrolley]

At least it never had chance to flop like Lair

 

[Rad]

Every gameplay I saw looked really mediocre.

 

[Mars People]

The game looked like a mess in every showing.

It's not hard to understand why it was cancelled.

 

[R.T Straker]

Every gameplay I saw looked really mediocre.

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The game looked like a mess in every showing.

It's not hard to understand why it was cancelled.

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Yup.

The game looked worse witch each time they showed it. It never struck me like a game Platinum would make, specially Kamiya.

 

[Deleted member 18951]

Fantastic studio, incredible premise for a game, just an absolutely horrendous public showing every time they had it at an event or conference

We'll never know the real reason as to the cancelation but as you can see from this thread some of the fan fiction write ups are mind blowing already, lol.

 

[Watershed]

Excellent OP. The cancelation of Scalebound was a real gaming tragedy. I'm super curious about what Kamiya has been working on since.

 

[EXPBonus]

Incredible thread, great write up, so thank you for that.

I've always been a Playstation player and I was honestly going to buy my first Xbox system for this game. It was my very definition of everything I find cool about ridiculous power fantasy type games.
My interpretation was Dante with a pet dragon in a star ocean type world, when i first saw it. I fell in love.
Heartbroken when I found out it was cancelled!

 

[gigaslash]

This was the only reason for me to by X1.
It so sad that Kamiya wasn't able to realise his vision.
But I've got to admit, even though it pains me to do so: from everything that was shown on Scalebound, I never got excited for the game :( Never though I'd be saying this about Kamiya's game, but I just wasn't feeling it, esp in gameplay demos. It was okay, but seemed to close to Monhan or even FFXV and, I just don't think that this is how Platinum's games should feel. I wasn't admitting it back in the time, but I just didn't see this one being as good as what we expect from Kamiya/Platinum.
Maybe it's even for the best that we're disappointed because of the cancellation, rather than being disappointed with the game's quality once it's out.

 

[User Tron]

Yup.

The game looked worse witch each time they showed it. It never struck me like a game Platinum would make, specially Kamiya.

Click to shrink...

I thought it looked cool till they showed multi player. It didn't understand why they suddenly added mp mode. It felt so forced.

 

[Hank Hill]

I still don't understand why MS canceled it.The game looked amazing.

 

[Tickling]

I loved the look of it and thought it this is a system seller. For me I think this was showcase title but was still really in the concept and planning phase and shouldn't of been announced. Phil wanted to announce something big and got carried away. As the footage was out there it's a much harder roll back than what happened at Santa Monica Studios and there cancelled project. Games get cancelled all the time some quietly with no footage like Santa Monica, some after playtesting (Fable Legends) and you can see why it got cancelled. The worse ones to get cancelled are the ones like Scalebound with very promising trailers from a top a studio which looked like they had the hallmarks of a great or interesting game. These ones sting and cause upset the most as it is a case of what could've been and is such a tease and everyone has it their on version of how it would had been played and it would've been perfect. This is why I think Microsoft is reducing the time between reveal and launch the longer you announce the more things can go wrong another example here is Crackdown 3.