Former Xbox exclusive Scalebound was canceled three years ago, but if the opportunity arises, developer PlatinumGames would love to return working on the game.
Back in January of 2017, after years of development, the Microsoft-owned IP was canceled due to development issues. Following the game’s cancellation, Microsoft received a lot of criticism from the community, but according to PlatinumGames, Microsoft wasn’t the only party to blame. “Watching fans getting angry at Microsoft over the cancellation wasn’t easy for us to watch”, studio head Atsushi Inaba said during an interview with VGC. “Because the reality is, when any game in development can’t get released, it’s because both sides failed.”
I think there are areas where we could’ve done better and I’m sure there are areas that Microsoft as a publishing partner wish that they could’ve done better. Because nobody wants a game to be canceled.”
Fast forward three years and PlatinumGames recently announced a partnership with Chinese tech company Tencent in order to receive funding for new projects. According to the Japanese developer, it wants to develop and self-publish its IPs across multiple platforms in the years to come.
With these new goals in mind, Inaba was once again asked about the Scalebound IP during a recent interview with Eurogamer Portugal.
According to the studio head, the team would love to return to Scalebound, but the IP is owned by Microsoft so there isn’t really much they can do at this point.
"Again, it's a good question! But this was an intellectual property that belongs 100% to Microsoft," Inaba told Eurogamer Portugal after being asked about the possibility of resurrecting Scalebound.
"Whatever happens with this project, we can't really do anything with it unless Microsoft leaves us. But it's a game that we fall in love with and love. If the opportunity arises, it's something we would love to return to."
Scalebound was officially announced during Microsoft’s 2014 E3 presser. The game was first slated for a 2016 release but was later delayed into 2017. As said, the action-RPG was canceled in January 2017.
