PlatinumGames' Scalebound Canceled "After Careful Deliberation" by Microsoft Studios

DualShockers

By Giuseppe Nelva

Published Jan 9, 2017

Action RPG Scalebound was supposed to be a dream collaboration between Hideki Kamiya's PlatinumGames and Microsoft Game Studios, but It won't see the light.

Scalebound Thuban Roar

It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing this piece. Rumors have started floating today about the possible cancellation of Scalebound, developed by PlatinumGames with Bayonetta Director Hideki Kamiya at the helm, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox One and PC.Unfortunately the rumors have been confirmed via Windows Central, with a brief statement.

After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for "Scalebound." We're working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including "Halo Wars 2," "Crackdown 3," "State of Decay 2," "Sea of Thieves" and other great experiences. For more information on our 2017 plans, please visit: https://news.xbox.com/2017/01/05/xbox-closes-milestone-year-in-2016/

The statement was also confirmed via the game's official Twitter account.

Scalebound was announced back at E3 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive. Following a delay to 2017, Â a PC release was announced at E3 2016. The last official piece of news we received was the announcement of a dedicated comics series and lore book coming from Titan Games.

Back in 2015, we interviewed Hideki Kamiya himself and Creative Producer Jean Pierre Kellams at Xbox fanfest in Tokyo, and they both appeared to have a very positive outlook on the development of the game and on the partnership with Microsoft.

More recently, at Gamescom in August 2016, I had the pleasure to see the game in action again, and everything seemed to be proceeding without issues. As a matter of fact, it looked better and better.

During the game's development, Scalebound was often mentioned by Microsoft executives including Xbox Division headÂ Phil Spencer, who explained that Microsoft intended to give the game all the time it needed. Games Marketing head Aaron Greenberg andÂ Corporate Vice President Kudo Tsunoda also had words of high praise for the game.

Unfortunately, something must have not worked as intended, and now Scalebound joins the list of extremely promising projects that will never shine on our screens, and thisÂ saddens me greatly.

I leave you with the latest gameplay trailer, to honor this beautiful action RPG that could. It's courtesy of YouTube userÂ MKIceAndFire, since Microsoft has removed every trace of the game from all of its official channels.