Microsoft Confirms that Scalebound Has Been Cancelled
David Gelmini
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Amid rumors of its cancellation, Microsoft has confirmed to IGN that Scalebound is indeed no longer in active development.
They’d recruited Japanese developer PlatinumGames to create Scalebound, which was going to be an AAA open world action RPG in which a teenager named Drew is transported to the fantastical land of Draconis, where he befriends a bloodthirsty dragon named Thuban. Gameplay would have been a mixture of controlling Drew and engaging in sword combat against hoards of enemies, and playing as Thuban and unleashing his mighty dragon powers. If the combat system looked familiar, it’s because it was being directed by Devil May Cry and Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya.
We didn’t see a whole lot of footage from the game, but Microsoft was clearly hoping that it was gonna be the start of a huge franchise, as they already partnered with Titan to create a comic series set in the same universe. That overconfidence was their weakness.
The critical response to many of Platinum’s titles has waned in recent years because they’ve been trying to turn out as many games as possible rather than actually spending the time to make each individual game as good as it could be (they’ll be carrying TNMT: Mutants in Manhattan with them to the grave). Their relationship with Microsoft was said to have deteriorated during the long period that Scalebound was in development, as they’d allegedly placed it on the back burner rather than making it a priority so that their staff could focus on the many other games that they had in development.
It should also be noted that Scalebound was something of an anomaly because Xbox-exclusive games developed in Japan are pretty much nonexistent. All three Xbox systems flopped in the Land of the Rising Sun, and it’s not unheard of for the Xbox One to sell less than 100 units per week in the country. Had Scalebound been a hit, it may have opened the door for more collaborations between Microsoft and Japanese developers, something that’s now never going to happen.
In short, Scalebound was a game that was going to be something truly unique and different, and being unique and different just doesn’t cut it in today’s world. But heaven forbid we should miss out on the next FIFA or Call of Duty. We really can’t have nice things.
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
