Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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lol @ Gies saying Platinum is "50/50 at best" when they've made, what was it, like two disappointing games?

Nah, it's more like the "if it's not a 10/10, then it's shit" mentality. Bayonetta 2 was the last game they've made that had major critical and fan acclaim wasn't it? Everything else has simply been "good" aside from a few stinkers.
 
Actually, I have heard from my friends at MS that the whole gaming division is under heavy scrutiny. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them drastically cut, and even more I highly expect the "Scorpio" to be delayed - that is a piece of information I have been keeping to myself to keep from being labeled a console warrior... We know there will be a new Forza this year, but everything else is up in the air...

I'd expect some kind of Minecraft clone to "diversify" the third-party lineup if Scorpio actually releases this year.

Meanwhile, MS is sitting on all of Rare's properties which we may never see again. If it won't be a major "success", the game will never see release. So probably never see another Banjo, or Conker, or any number of titles. Instead, they have Rare working on a multiplayer (has to be), pirate simulator. Pray Sea of Thieves is a success, or Rare will be next studio canned.
Well shit
 
why the fuck do I own an xbox one!?!?!?

It's a great system that plays the majority of games that come out. It also has some great racing titles with Forza and serves up good competitive multiplayer with Gears/Halo, for fans of those series

But it's becoming evident that for people who own other consoles and especially those who own a PC, Microsoft isn't interested in justifying owning one.

That's perfectly fine - but it is what it is. If you're looking to play exclusive AAA tentpole games that aren't sequels to Microsoft franchises I'm not sure you want to invest in an Xbox right now.

Really excited (and curious) to see their E3 show and how they approach Scorpio
 
Yep
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"Fine"

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Sad for the ones looking forward to it.

Honestly it failed to impress at every showing, looked quite bad.

Still surprised at this cancellation. Wtf is MS thinking.

Something something gamers my ass.

May have overlooked it on the first page but any response from kamiya / platinum?
 
Why don't you just point out what your problem is so i can fix it instead of leaving comments implying malicious intent?

that shit is almost worse than the actual fanboy console wars stuff.

vague passive aggressive replies implying something without coming out and saying it
 
Wasn't it in the top 10 Gaf's most anticipated this year?

Plus Gaf's (irrational imo) love of Platinum Games, of course people cared.
It was number 22. It was the highest X1 exclusive for 2017. Crackdown at 30 followed (sans Cuphead somewhere between Scalebound and Crackdown).
 
Probably the idea was to set very ambitious miletone goals which will force a developer to work extra hard in a shorter amount of time in order to hit the milestones and get paid the full amount. If that developer manages to do all, MS wins: an exclusive game for their system for less money. If that developer fails to achieve those milestones, MS will cut funding and that dev will have to work even harder. But in this case the milestones were so absurd that development team was constantly in crunch mode and the game was still far from finished. End result: game canceled, MS spent tens of millions of dollars with nothing to show for it.

If this game was blowing minds as expected from its first major showing, milestone missed or not, I don't think it gets canceled. The game was not looking like you would expect considering who was working on it.
 
"Phil Spencer ‏@XboxP3
@TiC_Podcast Difficult decision, we believe result is better 4 Xbox gamers, still disappointing. Im confident in 17 lineup thats our focus"
 
Devastation has no business being as good as it is.

Agreed. Considering the clear lack of budget and Activision's reputation, that's a god damn good game.

At the end of the day, if Platinum got shutdown. Would anything of value honestly be lost? Their quality is all over the map.

Only what I'd consider to be the best games developer in the world out there after Nintendo and Capcom.

why the fuck do I own an xbox one!?!?!?

Rare Replay?
 
I think this sort of puts a nail in the coffin of MS's third party studios creating exclusives theory.

So far this gen they have mostly been stinkers.

Some of that could probably be chalked up to the play anywhere mandate but..certainly not all of it.
 
"Phil Spencer ‏@XboxP3
@TiC_Podcast Difficult decision, we believe result is better 4 Xbox gamers, still disappointing. Im confident in 17 lineup thats our focus"

Well, guess that confirms it.

Someone should ask 'what game in your 17 lineup requires focus'?
 
Actually, I have heard from my friends at MS that the whole gaming division is under heavy scrutiny. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them drastically cut, and even more I highly expect the "Scorpio" to be delayed - that is a piece of information I have been keeping to myself to keep from being labeled a console warrior... We know there will be a new Forza this year, but everything else is up in the air...

I'd expect some kind of Minecraft clone to "diversify" the third-party lineup if Scorpio actually releases this year.

Meanwhile, MS is sitting on all of Rare's properties which we may never see again. If it won't be a major "success", the game will never see release. So probably never see another Banjo, or Conker, or any number of titles. Instead, they have Rare working on a multiplayer (has to be), pirate simulator. Pray Sea of Thieves is a success, or Rare will be next studio canned.

Yikes. Thanks for sharing.
 
It sounds like MS put something in the contract that gave them the ability to move the goalposts, either by shoehorning in features (the MP) or changing deadlines. That way if they didn't want to put money into the game anymore they could just move the goalposts to a place that was impossible to make.

Maybe the contract was written in the way that MS could constantly change what those milestones were.
That also comes under my question.. "Why did Platinum sign the contract?" because that's fucking stupid signing up for something that traps you like that. Whoever at Platinum agreed to that needs fired.

That's like buying a house and signing a contract that says "We can change the amount you pay each month and how much the house will cost at any time during this contract and there is nothing you can do about it", nobody is gonna sign that shit.
 
Meanwhile, MS is sitting on all of Rare's properties which we may never see again. If it won't be a major "success", the game will never see release. So probably never see another Banjo, or Conker, or any number of titles. Instead, they have Rare working on a multiplayer (has to be), pirate simulator. Pray Sea of Thieves is a success, or Rare will be next studio canned.

Rare died a long time ago.
 
Why don't you just point out what your problem is so i can fix it instead of leaving comments implying malicious intent?

that shit is almost worse than the actual fanboy console wars stuff.

vague passive aggressive replies implying something without coming out and saying it

It was pointed out already.

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.
 
Huh... I didn't know there were some issues behind the scenes, but even then people were criticizing the game so I wonder if that had to do with the extra pressure on the devs.
 
This is the worst part of it all. Microsoft literally drove Kamiya to sickness. The man is a treasure of the industry.

Hoping he can find recovery and fulfillment on Bayonetta 3.

jump-to-conclusions-mat.jpg


I missed the solid, concrete source showing evil execs at MS scheming to drive Kamiya into a deep depressive episode for apparent reasons to undermine a game that looked, by most impressions, totally mediocre.

If we're not going to wait for someone to actually dig up the full story, can we just go ahead and skip to the petitions and GoFundMes?
 
"Phil Spencer ‏@XboxP3
@TiC_Podcast Difficult decision, we believe result is better 4 Xbox gamers, still disappointing. Im confident in 17 lineup thats our focus"

If it's true that the gaming division is under heavy scrutiny, Phil Spencer has, perhaps, one of the most unappealing jobs in tech: Trying to right a damaged ship in the middle of a storm hurricane.
 
There are 2 sides, but we will only ever hear this one.

Listen, if you (as a team) have creative control, there is no such thing as an intractable problem; worst-case scenario is simply re-designing, omitting, and/or replacing the thing that's holding you up.

For well-organized and experienced teams, its no big deal at all.

UNLESS they are dealing with a publisher who adamantly demands features x, y, and z be implemented despite them being warned that this course of action will be unproductive, unnecessary or actively damaging to the project both in creative and logistical sense.

External producers have a lot of swing, but often in my experience not the creative chops to justify their influence and simply default (out of fear for their own jobs) to a position where they dogmatically defend the publisher's "interests" regardless of the developers warnings about the damage not changing tack is going to incur.

This is all it takes for a project to go to hell. I saw this depressingly often in my time, particularly when a publisher had very specific strategic plans for a project.
 
At the end of the day, if Platinum got shutdown. Would anything of value honestly be lost? Their quality is all over the map.

They made The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta. W101 is still my favorite Wii U game and they excel at action gameplay, art and music.

So, yes. Value would be lost. Those games may not be for you, but nothing is for everyone.
 
that shit is almost worse than the actual fanboy console wars stuff.

vague passive aggressive replies implying something without coming out and saying it

It's honestly infuriating.

It was pointed out already.

And i already replied to that:

It's a comparison of games that were shown at E3 2014. Sony chose to not show new games that were too far away from being completed and stuck to ones that were previously announced. Microsoft instead chose to show games that were far away from being completed. This is what's being compared. No one is being disingenuous.

But I prefaced my response to you saying that everything MS announced at E32014 was brand-new just seen, where as only about 4 titles of 10 your Sony list were.

The underlying message would have been the same, Sony had more announced releases from 2014 than Microsoft did, even with Microsoft announcing more titles; except that you have improperly categorized the games. If we're talking about new announcements that have been either released, unreleased, or cancelled from E3 2014, 5+ of the games you listed for Sony do not belong on that list.

The category is simple: games shown by Sony and Microsoft at their conference as console exclusives coming out after 2014. They showed different things for a reason and that's what i'm trying to show.
 
Actually, I have heard from my friends at MS that the whole gaming division is under heavy scrutiny. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them drastically cut, and even more I highly expect the "Scorpio" to be delayed - that is a piece of information I have been keeping to myself to keep from being labeled a console warrior... We know there will be a new Forza this year, but everything else is up in the air...

I'd expect some kind of Minecraft clone to "diversify" the third-party lineup if Scorpio actually releases this year.

Meanwhile, MS is sitting on all of Rare's properties which we may never see again. If it won't be a major "success", the game will never see release. So probably never see another Banjo, or Conker, or any number of titles. Instead, they have Rare working on a multiplayer (has to be), pirate simulator. Pray Sea of Thieves is a success, or Rare will be next studio canned.

Can't tell if your source is any credible, but I have been wondering something similar lately tbh!

I think about their investment in the Windows 10 store and it seems non-existent lately (they seems to be doing nothing to make their store grow and try to compete with Steam, Origin and GoG). Also, the lack of new annoucements, specially new IP's is a bit worrisome. However, it's even more strange when they're hying Scorpio console... I mean, they can't be planning to release a new console without some great gaming surprises... but maybe they will.

I'm under the impression that lately they're betting everything in Sea of Thieves. To keep people interested in both W10 store and Xbox brand. I can't understand why things are so idle for quite a while now....
 
Why would they purposely make them unachieveable? What would they gain from that?

I mean I could understand them being terrible at planning and budgeting but to straight up purposely cause them to fail? I don't buy that.
Not saying this is what it is or even possible in something like this, it's purely hypthetical, but it could be a case like what certain employers/managers do to fire their employees.

Like for instance if a manager doesn't like a certain employee for whatever reason and wants to fire them, but can't find a legitimate reason to fire them, they try to make their experience working there a pain so that that employee either gives up under pressure and quits, or the pressure effects their overall performance giving the manager cause to fire.

In this case, why would MS try to get a justified cause to fire by purposely making the milestones unachievable? Maybe there was something detailed out in the deal that MS and platinum made where if MS were to cancel the project without a good reason, then they would incur a big financial penalty that they have to pay out to Platinum or something.

Again, purely hypothetical, could be far from the truth and may not even be possible in this kind of a deal in this industry as I don't know the inner workings of this specific industry and their contracts..
 
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