Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]
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Gamer @ Heart
Member
Guys, that's how development works.
You don't meet milestones. You don't get paid.
It's in the contract. Don't act like Microsoft is some devil here just on that fact alone
Now, the deatils behind everything are what really matters. Where there Bethesda/human head/prey 2 level shennagins going on? Feature creep? We don't really know yet where the bad management lies yet and I super want to know.
Hopefully we will soon because I find this incredibly satisfying despite the sadness of the news.
You don't meet milestones. You don't get paid.
It's in the contract. Don't act like Microsoft is some devil here just on that fact alone
Now, the deatils behind everything are what really matters. Where there Bethesda/human head/prey 2 level shennagins going on? Feature creep? We don't really know yet where the bad management lies yet and I super want to know.
Hopefully we will soon because I find this incredibly satisfying despite the sadness of the news.
Ricky Ricardo
Member
This feels a bit tenuous. MS E3 2014 as a firesale of panic to reassure brand faithful the console was not doomed. IIRC, almost, if not all, of those titles were announced at E32014 for the first time.
Uncharted 4 was announced at the Playstation 4 Launch event, November 15th, 2013.
Deep Down was announced at the Playstation 4 Reveal, February 20th, 2013.
The Order: 1886 was announced at E3 2013.
The Witness was also announced at the Playstation 4 Reveal, February 20th, 2013.
Everyone's Gone to Rapture was announced at Sony's Gamescom 2013, August 20, 2013.
EVE: Valkyrie seems like it was announced to be coming to PS4 back at Gamescom 2013, August 20, 2013.
No Man's Sky was first announced in December 2013, without any platforms being mentioned.
Did I say a bit tenuous? I meant completely disingenuous.
This. Microsoft didn't try and trick Platinum. I doubt they wanted this result either. I'm disappointed the game isn't coming out, but let's not act like it somehow makes sense for Microsoft to sabotage a game they're funding. Both parties agreed to terms, whatever those terms may be, then one side failed to deliver causing the other to cut ties before their losses increased.
giancarlo123x
Banned
Wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen, Ni-oh was the first ps3 game announced even before the console existed in 2004 and nothing came of it until last year.
)Metalingus5150
Member
Fuck Arthur Gies.
theSlacker
Member
Even with people saying it was looking bad I was pretty excited for the game. I was considering getting an xbone for it. Oh well time to move on.
The Antitype
Banned
I'd be more sympathetic to this view if there was literally ANY evidence of Scalebound being a quality product of ANY dimension or scope.
Putting aside the fact that the CG announcement trailer feature several dragon riders, pointing at least implicitly to co-op from the out-set, what element of the game as shown gives you the impression that it would have been a promising game of smaller, single-player scale?
The mashy, simplistic combat?
The janky animation?
The brain-dead AI?
The schizo camera?
The ONE and ONLY potential high-point was the idea of playing co-op with 3 other people against immense bosses. The fundamental mechanics looked like trash. Skimming online or service features off the design doc doesn't magically change the fact that after 3 years, the movement,combat and camera all looked like trash at every demo. Those aren't elements impacted by increased demands of multiplayer/service scope. Those are baseline milestones for the basic gameplay loop.
fabricated backlash
Member
Can't say I'm surprised. Looked like a stinker from everything I've seen so far.
On a "he said she said" situation, look for reputation.
I'm sorry, but Platinum's reputation on budget and deadlines is sterling. Microsoft's reputation with managing projects is not. Without more information, I see absolutely no logic in attributing a large portion of the blame with Platinum.
Tyrant Rave
Banned
bananafactory
Banned
I have no idea. Presumably financial benefit somehow if they felt the game was already at risk?
Maybe they wanted out of the deal but couldn't end it without a certain circumstance
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Not surprising. Never looked good.
I agree however with Platinum Dust they didn't do the Zenimax milestone thing but rather just decided to not fund it (if I'm understanding that correctly).
Feelings on both sides are probably going to be tense coming out of this.
Salty Rice
Member
eh, damn:
this is fucked up if true
Wow fuck
Glass Rebel
Member
only real clover studios fans remember
At this point Platinum shouldn't make any games involving flying as one of the main mechanics anymore. It's a bad omen.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
SMACK DAT MOTHAFUCKIN CLOVER BUTTON
Otakumegane
Member
Doesn't surprise me.
Even if you compare minor things like hit feedback compared to W101 and Bayonetta, it's clear that the demo was lacking if lacklusteringly punching a giant crab in it's glowing purple weak point was the best you could do.
The demo was indicative of how far things veered off.
Even if you compare minor things like hit feedback compared to W101 and Bayonetta, it's clear that the demo was lacking if lacklusteringly punching a giant crab in it's glowing purple weak point was the best you could do.
The demo was indicative of how far things veered off.
It barely ran on the Xbox you think it would even be able to boot up on the Switch with those specs it has? This looked like it had to be a Scorpio exclusive to even run well.
Theslammer
Member
Project Spark did come out, but the online features are no longer supported and it's no longer for sale. I think it switched to a F2P model and you can play a version with reduced features or something. I'm not totally clear on how the lack of support affected it, but it was strange to me to see online features cut after two years. I'm guessing it must have sold terribly.
Pathfinder
Member
It gets the troops all riled up though, so it serves a purpose.
The Spoony Hou
Member
More like 2016's last victim.
Anyway, this sucks, ugh. I hope Nintendo, or someone else, can revive it.
Like every contract dispute ever.
YFW Microsoft exits the console space before Nintendo does
/s
I think they'll just scale back, and focus on what's been working for them for the past decade or so; Halo, Forza, Gears, etc.
Weltall Zero
Member
As a monstruously huge Kamiya fanboy and Platinum games lover, I feel really conflicted about this. On one hand, I worry about P*'s financial state if MS has been withholding payment for a long time, and it doesn't seem like they will ever see it now; plus this can't be good for Kamiya's morale in the short term. On the other, Scalebound was by far the game I was least interested in, from all that Kamiya has ever made, and I'm not shedding many tears over seeing it killed and Kamiya released to hopefully greener pastures.
I really hope this turns out to be for the best in the end, but only time will tell.
I really hope this turns out to be for the best in the end, but only time will tell.
Platinum hasn't ever done a game of this size or scope before. It's very easy to see them being out of their league. Not to mention this game never really looked like it was all together. This isn't like Prey 2 which had a super strong showing.
Scalebound never really looked like a game where the development was going smoothly.
welp...
giancarlo123x
Banned
I'm still convinced that phantom dust wasn't much more outside of the cg video.
Well that's a bummer. Sounds like it was just in a terrible position and not getting better.
Heh
Heh
Jaguar Victory
Member
I don't understand the concept folks are pushing that the publisher wanted the game to fail. Why would they want it to fail? What do they have to gain? They did it because they want you to be miserable? The only logical answer is that it would have cost more to fix the game than the revenue it would generate in return or that Kamiya and team weren't up to the challenge of finishing it and they lost confidence.
I wanted this game too. But hey, whatever. I'll probably just be busy with Mass Effect and Destiny 2 later this year instead.
I wanted this game too. But hey, whatever. I'll probably just be busy with Mass Effect and Destiny 2 later this year instead.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
they already have, in more ways than one apparently!
So you think Bethesda is the one who is right in the Prey 2 conflict?
getting out of a contract at the other party's expense
Hello? This is Hailun!
Member
Dude owes his career to MS. He'll go down in flames with em.
outunderthestars
Banned
Really seems like Platinum has hit really hard times. Wonder how much longer the studio will stay afloat...
Because the game was a turd and they wanted out.
As awful as it sounds, if you're a contract holder and you've rights to modify it so certain milestones need to be hit, you modify them if you wanna kill the contract.
The company I'm working for is doing something similar. And this isn't a company that'll be able to survive. We're putting around 35 people out of a job. Sounds prickish but in all truth we've provided them nearly £1mil pounds at this point and have had exactly 0 pound back off them.
Is it shitty? Probably. Is it smart business? Yes.
It's been 4 years in dev, obviously someone in MS didnt see potential for a return so they moved the goalposts to kill the contract
The company I'm working for is doing something similar. And this isn't a company that'll be able to survive. We're putting around 35 people out of a job. Sounds prickish but in all truth we've provided them nearly £1mil pounds at this point and have had exactly 0 pound back off them.
Is it shitty? Probably. Is it smart business? Yes.
It's been 4 years in dev, obviously someone in MS didnt see potential for a return so they moved the goalposts to kill the contract
I'm sure there's two sides but this seems really bad
I doubt MS set unachievable goals and watched them waste millions on making the game knowing it'd be impossible to reach, and if they did why would Platinum sign the contract?
It sounds like they both agreed on goals, Platinum ended up coming up short multiple times (hence the 3, maybe 4? delays) and MS had enough of it and called it quits since the game had a bad reception and it wasn't gonna make money back anyways. That's my interpretation of it anyways, sadly I doubt we'll ever get the full truth
Still pretty shitty especially since I was one of the few here on Neogaf that was actually looking forward to it, but like another poster said if Platinum just kept delaying the game constantly MS has to draw the line somewhere.
bananafactory
Banned
I had no interest in it, probably a lot of people in here didn't either.
The significance of the game for Platinum and Microsoft is why there's so much movement in this thread. Not every day a project this high profile and this far along gets canned. It's a very interesting discussion, particular with regards to what it means for the future of both companies (as the ZhugeEX tweets imply)
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