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It's been a year since Microsoft cancelled Scalebound

Segafreak

Segafreak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,756
and I'm still sad


It was my most anticipated title last year, almost everything about it looked good from the UI, the colorful art style, the combat to the use of contemporary electronic music rather than generic jrpg jingles. Sure performance looks rough, but it was going to be good (60fps on pc). We dont get big budget JRPGs often, they struck gold with Hideki Kamiya and then cancel his game, wtf. If MS ever brings this back under a different developer I won't care about it.
Did they axe it to bring MH World to Xbox?
 
RavenH2

RavenH2

Member
Oct 27, 2017
823
Argentina
I woke up this morning thinking the same thing. It would be wonderfull to know all that went wrong, it was such a promising game but all of its showings were lackluster. It was definitely on my pick-up list.
 
BlacJack

BlacJack

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
1,021
That game looked so boring to me. Never understood the hype for it. Suffered from the "add tons of HP to enemies for challenge" syndrome. You'd sit here doing the same handful of moves repeatedly for minutes to take down one enemy. Like a bad MMO.
 
Master Alucard

Master Alucard

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,956
i wonder where will platinum be right now if Nier wasn't a big hit

Dr. Dre's Dr. said:
Hasn't most things been canceled from that E3 where this was shown? Having Scalebound cancels hurts a lot. I hope element of it evolve into upcoming P* games!
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all the Scalebound assets developed are probably Microsoft ip, and i don't see them going back with platinum again.
 
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Dr. Dre's Dr.

Dr. Dre's Dr.

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
976
Hasn't most things been canceled from that E3 where this was shown? Having Scalebound cancels hurts a lot. I hope element of it evolve into upcoming P* games!
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 23, 2017
2,377
Madrid
I was having a happy day until i read this message. Thanks a lot, now i feel bad.

Master Alucard said:
i wonder where will platinum be right now of Nier wasn't a big hit
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They announced at september 2016 thay the were developing Granblue Fantasy Re Link and a mobile game IIRC. So they would be alive, but i expect there would have been a noticeable layoff.
 
Hatebringer

Hatebringer

Member
Oct 26, 2017
231
Yeah, I'll admit that most MS titles don't really interest me but this one looked really cool.

nodDhrM.png
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
Even though the game always looked like an incoherent mess whenever it was showcased, I was super shocked when it was confirmed to be cancelled. A game in development that long with a respected industry icon helming the project, how could you not be.

I'd love to get an article going into detail about all the shenanigans that occurred behind the scenes one day. I bet it was an absolute shitshow.
 
Aztorian

Aztorian

Member
Jan 3, 2018
1,456
The only first party game from Microsoft I was interested in. Almost bought the One but decided to wait for their E3 presentation last year. I consider myself wise for that decision since I can play everything except Halo on PC now..
 

Cybersai

Banned
Jan 8, 2018
11,631
It's literally been a year? Where does the time go? I swear time has been moving on double the speed lately.
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
Game was expensive and being developed for many years, and the results, from what we've seen, were largely mixed. The game seemed far from finished or decent yet despite everything, and I doubt funding the remaining years of development would have justified the sale expectations of such a game. It's sad, but it is what it is. Concept was promising but every showing of the game has been meh.
 
ShadowGP

ShadowGP

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,434
Phil Spencer:
"It hurt me as well and to the community I apologize. I want everything we start to turn out great, to take risks, create diversity,"
 
Coxy

Coxy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,187
Wasn't sad to see it go - the headphones were stupid and cringy the music that came on when fighting was also awful. If it was made by a Western developer instead then this could have been promising - but not like that
 
CoLD FiRE

CoLD FiRE

Banned
Nov 11, 2017
369
It looked very rough when it was shown and it had a douche bag looking main character. They should've just released Nier Automata on Xbox One instead of the mess that Scalebound looked like.
 
Gold Arsene

Gold Arsene

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
30,757
Coxy said:
Wasn't sad to see it go - the headphones were stupid and cringy the music that came on when fighting was also awful. If it was made by a Western developer instead then this could have been promising - but not like that
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I know I'm gonna regret asking but what do you mean by this?

Why would you want an action game not developed by some of the best action game developers there are?
 
Alexander DeLarge

Alexander DeLarge

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,277
Crazy Izanagi said:
Didn't Automata do alright for a Nier sequel?
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If it wasn't a massive success, which it was, I have no idea what shape they'd be in after Microsoft fucked them over. I have no idea whether those incredible sales numbers resulted in more money for the company but I wonder how many deals were struck behind the scenes that we'll be seeing in the next 2-3 years (they have a faster development cycle than most of the industry).

I've heard unverifiable rumors that the game went full Platinum style action combat off camera but they weren't showing any of that. If that's true, I'm betting we'd see a lot of people pleasantly surprised in the same way that people were when Doom wasn't the generic corridor shooter people were expecting. Now whether anyone would've bought it regardless considering Xbox users consistently haven't supported Japanese games nicher than this side of Metal Gear Solid is another matter entirely.


I'm hoping that Platinum owns the assets and they use it to make a Drakengard 4 with Yoko Taro at the helm.
 
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Zeta Ori

Zeta Ori

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,102
NY
I wrote a post mortem look at the game to celebrate the move over to Reset from the other place a couple months back.

Could have been something really special...

Shame we never got to see the final mechanics.
 
Petran

Petran

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,034
the spoken promise was great. but whatever was shown by the developer simply had nothing going for it, other than those smarty-pants dragon fly-by's and that kid putting on the headphones.
battle seemed slow and sluggish and not inspiring to say the least, dragons seemed like a tacked-on (press B for dragon hit) thing just because, it lacked everything that makes a good action game.
yet here we are, doing ceremonies...
 
Trago

Trago

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,605
What really gets me is that this was the last big partnership Microsoft made with a Japanese developer that we know of.

The fact that we were going to get a AAA game from Platinum was insane to me. I thought it could be the first step for Microsoft going back to the early 360 days when they were partnering with Japanese publishers left and right in addition to having all the western games.

Here's hoping that they work with them again.
 
Sir Guts

Sir Guts

Use of alt account
Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,480
And I'm still pissed about it. Was so hyped as the idea was awesome!!
 
ChaosSmurf

ChaosSmurf

GLHF
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
257
Horsham, United Kingdom
I think a lot of people forget that it was a Platinum game with fucking dragons in it so it doesn't really matter what it looked, sounded, or played like, because it was a Platinum game with fucking dragons in it.

RIP.
 
Com_Raven

Com_Raven

Brand Manager
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,103
Europa
It is always sad when a game gets cancelled (I was looking forward to Scalebound a lot), but it is also worth considering that companies usually have very good reasons for doing so (unless it is one of the rare occasions where a promising game false victim to a lack of available money). It's always hard to understand or accept that from the outside, seeing how the only things the public will have seen were coming from the dev/ publisher, and therefore showing the game in the best possible light. And even with that in mind, their public demos at trade shows caught a lot of flak from gamers. As much as it is en vogue to hate on Microsoft and their lack of exclusives, chances are the game was not shaping up to be what fans were imagining when they read about it.
 
ConHaki66

ConHaki66

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,968
ChaosSmurf said:
I think a lot of people forget that it was a Platinum game with fucking dragons in it so it doesn't really matter what it looked, sounded, or played like, because it was a Platinum game with fucking dragons in it.

RIP.
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It's also millions of dollars that could be on the neck of an exec of if it bombs after promo
 
Al3x1s

Al3x1s

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
2,824
Greece
Platinum got to make two other RPGs so far so it's alright! Nier was great and that more traditional JRPG looking thing (still all action) is looking promising too, I forget its title, same IP as some mobile RPG :P
 
Philippo

Philippo

Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
7,918
I'm mostly sad for P* and just big-budget AAA rpgs, because in this specific case i hate the goddamn protagonist so fucking much.
 
scare_crow

scare_crow

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,309
Never understood the excitement around it. The protagonist was so try-hard and the gameplay looked pretty rote to me.
 
Akumasama

Akumasama

Member
Nov 8, 2017
542
Italy
Chauzu said:
Did it ever get cleared up what went wrong with this?
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Think they were further behind in development than they wanted us to think. It got strained way longer than MS wanted it to be and I suspect they (Platinum) also had very confused ideas about what kind of game they wanted it to be.
Don't wanna play devil's advocate and defend MS at all costs but I seriously doubt they cancelled it on a whim or just to make some JP dev angry because they argued on something.
Think there was something deep that was wrong in the game and its developement, something we players clearly didn't see or couldn't imagine.

It's just one of the many scenarios but if Scalebound were ever to be released maybe now we would be posting about how disappointed we are and how bad of a game it is.
Of all the possible scenarios it's the one I personally consider the most likely.
 
KazuchikaOkada

KazuchikaOkada

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
317
A year since Microsoft cancelled their only interesting exclusive* in Xbone history. A complete waste of Platinum and Kamiya's resources.

*Also on PC
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,028
scare_crow said:
Never understood the excitement around it. The protagonist was so try-hard and the gameplay looked pretty rote to me.
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There wasnt really. It looked intresting but with every showing it looked poor and alot of people didnt dig the main character also.
The "excitement" was suddenly there when it was announced it was cancelled.

Com_Raven said:
It is always sad when a game gets cancelled (I was looking forward to Scalebound a lot), but it is also worth considering that companies usually have very good reasons for doing so (unless it is one of the rare occasions where a promising game false victim to a lack of available money). It's always hard to understand or accept that from the outside, seeing how the only things the public will have seen were coming from the dev/ publisher, and therefore showing the game in the best possible light. And even with that in mind, their public demos at trade shows caught a lot of flak from gamers. As much as it is en vogue to hate on Microsoft and their lack of exclusives, chances are the game was not shaping up to be what fans were imagining when they read about it.
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Jup fully agree. And with Kayima even responding on it in a decent fashion and no months later leaks from insiders etc. It looks it just didnt work out. Wich can happen.
 
Hektor

Hektor

Community Resettler
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,884
Deutschland
Tears running down my face,
suffering such disgrace,
for it was real yet ever not,
child abandonded left to rot,
bleeding hearts don't make a sound,
oh how i mourn thee scalebound
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
Also let's not forget Platinum was pretty much shitting out games those days, splitting their teams into a million parts as they worked on tons of projects at the same time, including plenty of Activision games based on licences that, Transformers aside, were rather disappointing. Microsoft was pouring money into the project for years and Platinum was working on like 80 other games in the process, and Scalebound was not looking hot and was being developed for a long long time already. I am inclined to believe this scenario helped the game getting the axe, as obviously as a publisher you don't want to pour money into a studio for years who spends most of the time and money working on other projects instead (see Alien: Colonial Marines).
 
Cpt-GargameL

Cpt-GargameL

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,024
They seemed to be pretty far along in the development process, crazy how they just decided to say "fuck it, we're out"
 
Gamer17

Gamer17

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,399
A question . What has MS announced since cancelling this game ? Did they announce anything after this cancellation?
 
Alvis

Alvis

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,231
Spain
What the fuck it literally feels like it was a month ago.

I want time to move slower
 
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