By Yep, we’re still talking about it
- by Ben Kerry
Warning: it’s been six months since we’ve written about Scalebound so we’re back at it again today! All jokes aside, we’re under no contractual obligation to keep talking about the cancelled Xbox One exclusive (we promise), but today, the game’s director has given us a good reason to do so.
Speaking with outlet VGC, ex-PlatinumGames boss Hideki Kamiya was asked about their experience in having a game cancelled by Microsoft, and whether the veteran developer believes it would have been any different had a Japanese publisher picked the game up instead. Here’s Kamiya’s response:
“I do think it would’ve been different. I don’t mean that if it had been a Japanese publisher, the game would necessarily have been completed and released, but I imagine the process itself would have played out differently. Japanese companies tend to be more open to new challenges, and I think the conversations would have been more positive, like, “Okay, so how should we approach this together? For me personally, overseas publishers seem to have a much stronger desire to see a finished product as quickly as possible. If it had been a Japanese publisher, I feel they might have given us more leeway.”
Despite thinking things could have been different with a Japanese publisher, the former Platinum dev — who now heads up new studio CLOVERS — did go on to say that “the failure of Scalebound was ultimately the responsibility of PlatinumGames, myself as director included” – effectively taking the blame for the game’s cancellation. Ultimately, we don’t know the ins and outs of Microsoft’s decision back when the game was canned in 2017.
As we alluded to up at the top, we last covered the game around six months ago, when Kamiya said that they’d “love” to return to Scalebound and get the project going again. That feels increasingly unlikely to happen though – especially from an Xbox perspective, where Microsoft seems to be more and more risk averse these days.
How do you feel about Scalebound, almost a decade after it was cancelled? Talk to us about the project down below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin’ in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he’s not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that’s far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.