Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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Sounds perfect for Scorpio then?

This is (potentially) a great game by a renowned creator getting the can for "reasons" and lack of hype....after 4 years.

I hope it was shit(but don't think it was). It's definitely a bit shit for all gamers IMO

Lets be honest. Nothing other than reputation pointed towards Scalebound being a great game. I like this type of game and would have loved to have played what we heard their vision was. But it also sounded way too good to be true, flying around on a Dragon in a huge world with big cites and monsters. But the gameplay we actually saw looked awful and ran like crap. It looked like a game that needed 4 more years and a complete revamp to be great and playable.
 
Well, you're already defeatist in this whole thing. "They have the power and it will never change" is the vibe I get from you.

An indie making an agreement with a publisher should get a lot better at their agreements they sign. All of them should. At the same time. An upstart will come forward. They always do. Devolver Digital springs to mind. You dismiss them now at your peril.
Dude, what are you talking about? I'm talking about events that have happened many times. It's not about being defeatist. And once again, what they sign isn't really the problem, it's the fact that in practice what's on the paper doesn't necessarily matter.
 
Sounds perfect for Scorpio then?

This is (potentially) a great game by a renowned creator getting the can for "reasons" and lack of hype....after 4 years.

I hope it was shit(but don't think it was). It's definitely a bit shit for all gamers IMO

Yes, why didn't Phil see this? They could just lose $3-$5 million on this game as an "investment" or sign of good will. And if it happened to be a success they would recoup the costs.

Don't understand this really. Must be some internal east vs west politics going on?
 
If Microsoft ends up killing Platinum I will burn them to the ground.

And I thought the death of Ensemble was tough. Platinum would end me.

(not really, but damn... What a shame)
 
Yep
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Yes, why didn't Phil see this? They could just lose $3-$5 million on this game as an "investment" or sign of good will. And if it happened to be a success they would recoup the costs.

Don't understand this really. Must be some internal east vs west politics going on?
lol, where in the world did you get $3-5 million from?
 
Worth noting that details are unlikely to come out from Microsoft if Platinum were in some way at fault. If the game wasn't fun/was wildly over budget / was excessively delayed or something similar then I can't see Microsoft publicly throwing them under the bus.

I expect that 'Microsoft are at fault' to become the accepted state of affairs.
That to me seems just as plausible and would explain Microsoft's quick and to the point PR response just as much. It's possible we may never know the full story here.
 
Yup, it's exactly what I noticed.

Before cancellation: "Oh Scalebound? That shitty game? Who will buy this? PS Buy Horizon: New Dawn please."

After cancellation: "OMG SCALEBOUND IS CANCELLED, MY SOLE REASON TO (MAYBE) BUY AN XBONE IN 2020!"

It's that "GAF" guy stirring up trouble again.
 
Infinitely better than canning it if FPS were the major issue

Not really though. It would go against everything both MS and Sony have said about the PS4 Pro and Scorpio and piss off all the Xbox One owners. Also a waste of money to even make a Scorpio only AAA game, when so few people will own a Scorpio.
 
Which is weird because I don't know anyone who was interested in it. I remember watching the E3 2015 Demo live stream and all of my friends thought it looked like shit. Hell I remember as recently as last week people here on neogaf were basically saying Scalebound wasn't a worthy AAA Exclusive worth mentioning compared to Sony's games when starting list wars.

I was rooting for this game to come around.

But this story here really is bigger than Scalebound. At some point I'm questioning Microsoft's ability to deliver a diverse and exclusive games line-up. I'm not saying the Scalebound cancellation is 100% Microsoft's fault, maybe it is, we don't know, I'm saying I don't trust Microsoft anymore when it comes to actually releasing games other than Halo, Gears and Forza. If that is all MS wants to be than so be it. That makes me regret my Xbox One purchase and no way am I considering getting a Scorpio. What for? For Gears to look a bit better? 3rd parties won't care about Scorpio because why would they. Why should they allocate resources into making a Scorpio patch in this console race?

Just anything Xbox seems like a bad investment at this point.
 
where do people get this idea that this could have been a "scorpio launch game"? there won't be exclusive scorpio games. they have to run on xbox one. remember "no one left behind"?

I still believe they'll come back on this. Full compatibility with previous One games and keeping 360 library? Yes. But I can see them doing ecxlusives, VR games are going to be exclusive by definition. They have to let it go or accept low res games on the kne because 'we must also release on One'
 
During gamescom 2016 year they showed Scalebound in private showings.

They showed off something called "Dragon Link", something that they, as far as I know, haven't shown to the public ever and now possibly never will. Up until that point they only showed fairly basic combat that looked great but more in the vein of Dragon's Dogma and less like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. That's why many people used to Kamiya's games were pretty disappointed. And then they showed Dragon Link. It's a button you hold and then the camera switched into First Person Mode...and you controlled the dragon. So then you controlled the Dragon from Drew's perspective, which still looks HUGE because the camera doesn't zoom out but goes into first person and you fight against another huge Monster. And then they started comboing. They fluidly switched from Drew to the Dragon to Drew by holding or not holding the Dragon Link button.

Think the weapon system of DmC but instead of holding a button to switch to a certain weapon you hold a button to switch to a fucking dragon. So these two characters juggled that huge monkey enemy into the air with all the usual attacks and combos you know from Platinum Games only it was A HUGE GODDAMN DRAGON DOING THE COMBOS. There was a combo counter and a rating and everything. It was their direct answer to the "Where is the Platinum action?" question.

It looked fucking great and as far as I'm aware they have never released that footage, just as they never showed the HUGE array of customising options and RPG features.

I'm so mad about this cancellation. Goddamnit.
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It doesn't really matter if a huge amount of people were excited for this. Microsoft's job was to make people excited and they just gave up, there was an audience for this game. It wasn't huge, but that shouldn't matter.

Sony have no problem making games for niche audiences that they know wont sell well enough to justify costs. Sony offer the option to people out there to play games such as the Last Guardian, Knack 2, Gravity Rush 2, etc. As they are offering a full package service to customers with a variety of games. Xbox has absolutely no variety right now in terms of future releases.

Microsoft would rather make a Crackdown 3 than a Fable 4 and that's all you need to know. Phil Spencer doesn't know what he's even doing right now and fans shouldn't be defending this, as it enables more failures like this to happen in the future.
 
Don't have an XB1 but The videos I saw for this didn't look to be incredible. The scale and the graphics were nice though.

However, cancelling a project after this length of time seems like a serious misstep. Another 8 months or so, launch with Scorpio. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

But that's probably why I'm not in charge of massive decisions like this.
 
Man, Sea of Thieves better be phenomenal, cause that's the only game I'm really looking forward to on Xbox right now. I haven't really played much on my xbone at all other then Inside, Ori and Sunset Overdrive
 
Scalebound wasn't even on my radar and if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't even be discussing it. It does seem to me though that the only reason why this thread has over 130 pages is because the topic gives people an excuse to bash Microsoft even though they have nothing but rumors to go on. The situation does suck for the game developers, Microsoft and people who were legitimately interested in the game. But to use it as an excuse to post nonsense like "Microsoft has no other exclusive games" is just plain shitposting.

Gimme a break. I'm not even a big platinum fan, but Kamiya is one of the most accomplished game directors in the business. He might not be as high profile as say Kojima, but his track record is impeccable. The fact that you didn't know about this game doesn't say anything about the significance of its cancellation.
 
I was put off the game a bit when they showed the co-op demo, but Kamiya has never let me down before, and I had no reason to believe he would start slipping. A real shame that it had to go like this. I hope Platinum can score another project fast, because they aren't exactly a small studio these days.
 
I don't want to belittle the people who were looking forward to this, because it really fucking sucks for them.

However, in the cold light of day, how many people are truly disappointed by this? I'd bet the truly upset people here are outnumbered by people showing "concern" and "disappointment" who were never planning on getting it in the first place - if they even had the right platform to play it on.

It sucks. It really does. But it makes sense.

However, Microsoft are not blameless by a long shot. They should have killed this a long time ago, if they green lit it at all. Who were they planning to sell it to? Japan (whatsanxbox.gif)? The Venn diagram of Xbox owners outside Japan and fans of this sort of Japanese game must have an incredibly small intersection of people who see Platinum as industry darlings.

This seems to have needlessly cost a lot of pain and misery by insisting on continuing this fruitless exercise.

Side note:

I bet what really killed it last year was Microsoft demanding this be a Scorpio showcase, likely for no additional funding.

In before "30fps rather than 15"
 
It doesn't really matter if a huge amount of people were excited for this. Microsoft's job was to make people excited and they just gave up, there was an audience for this game. It wasn't huge, but that shouldn't matter.

Sony have no problem making games for niche audiences that they know wont sell well enough to justify costs. Sony offer the option to people out there to play games such as the Last Guardian, Knack 2, Gravity Rush 2, etc. As they are offering a full package service to customers with a variety of games. Xbox has absolutely no variety right now in terms of future releases.

Microsoft would rather make a Crackdown 3 than a Fable 4 and that's all you need to know. Phil Spencer doesn't know what he's even doing right now and fans shouldn't be defending this, as it enables more failures like this to happen in the future.

I never thought of it like this.
 
The 2015 showing looked quite good, even if the game was a bit "slow", but the 2016 boss fight really didn't do the game any favours. A boss fight that really didn't feel like one, with co-op elements that didn't quite seem to fit with the game initial purpose. In any case, it was a Kamiya game, I generally enjoy them and was looking forward to it.
 
I don't want to belittle the people who were looking forward to this, because it really fucking sucks for them.

However, in the cold light of day, how many people are truly disappointed by this? I'd bet the truly upset people here are outnumbered by people showing "concern" and "disappointment" who were never planning on getting it in the first place - if they even had the right platform to play it on.

It sucks. It really does. But it makes sense.

However, Microsoft are not blameless by a long shot. They should have killed this a long time ago, if they green lit it at all. Who were they planning to sell it to? Japan (whatsanxbox.gif)? The Venn diagram of Xbox owners outside Japan and fans of this sort of Japanese game must have an incredibly small intersection of people who see Platinum as industry darlings.

This seems to have needlessly cost a lot of pain and misery by insisting on continuing this fruitless exercise.

They started and marketed this game as "hey gamers, here's Kamiya we just gave him a blank cheque"

Then proceeded to treat them like rats that had to fear their milestones and no room for any problems IMO

Pissed.
 
During gamescom 2016 year they showed Scalebound in private showings.

They showed off something called "Dragon Link", something that they, as far as I know, haven't shown to the public ever and now possibly never will. Up until that point they only showed fairly basic combat that looked great but more in the vein of Dragon's Dogma and less like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. That's why many people used to Kamiya's games were pretty disappointed. And then they showed Dragon Link. It's a button you hold and then the camera switched into First Person Mode...and you controlled the dragon. So then you controlled the Dragon from Drew's perspective, which still looks HUGE because the camera doesn't zoom out but goes into first person and you fight against another huge Monster. And then they started comboing. They fluidly switched from Drew to the Dragon to Drew by holding or not holding the Dragon Link button.

Think the weapon system of DmC but instead of holding a button to switch to a certain weapon you hold a button to switch to a fucking dragon. So these two characters juggled that huge monkey enemy into the air with all the usual attacks and combos you know from Platinum Games only it was A HUGE GODDAMN DRAGON DOING THE COMBOS. There was a combo counter and a rating and everything. It was their direct answer to the "Where is the Platinum action?" question.

It looked fucking great and as far as I'm aware they have never released that footage, just as they never showed the HUGE array of customising options and RPG features.

I'm so mad about this cancellation. Goddamnit.

raw
 
They started and marketed this game as "hey gamers, here's Kamiya we just gave him a blank cheque"

Then proceeded to treat them like rats that had to fear their milestones and no room for any problems IMO

Pissed.

I mean, that's just unrealistic.
 
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. My most anticipated game in the foreseeable future. I mean, I already had zero faith in Microsoft when it comes to gaming, but I honestly wasn't expecting this at all. Most of all I just hope this isn't the last we hear of Kamiya, because that would be the biggest shame this industry has seen thus far. Fuck.
 
During gamescom 2016 year they showed Scalebound in private showings.

They showed off something called "Dragon Link", something that they, as far as I know, haven't shown to the public ever and now possibly never will. Up until that point they only showed fairly basic combat that looked great but more in the vein of Dragon's Dogma and less like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. That's why many people used to Kamiya's games were pretty disappointed. And then they showed Dragon Link. It's a button you hold and then the camera switched into First Person Mode...and you controlled the dragon. So then you controlled the Dragon from Drew's perspective, which still looks HUGE because the camera doesn't zoom out but goes into first person and you fight against another huge Monster. And then they started comboing. They fluidly switched from Drew to the Dragon to Drew by holding or not holding the Dragon Link button.

Think the weapon system of DmC but instead of holding a button to switch to a certain weapon you hold a button to switch to a fucking dragon. So these two characters juggled that huge monkey enemy into the air with all the usual attacks and combos you know from Platinum Games only it was A HUGE GODDAMN DRAGON DOING THE COMBOS. There was a combo counter and a rating and everything. It was their direct answer to the "Where is the Platinum action?" question.

It looked fucking great and as far as I'm aware they have never released that footage, just as they never showed the HUGE array of customising options and RPG features.

I'm so mad about this cancellation. Goddamnit.

Who would want to play a Platinum action game as a dragon

:(
 
Well seeing as this got cancelled, making kamiya available now, and seeing as youko taro is currently working with them as well, i think that after Nier:Automata is done and out in the world, SE, platinum, kamiya and taro should collaborate again, and using concepts from scalebound with kamiya as director and taro as writer to create Drakengard 4/Drag-on-Dragoon 4 or remake D1

Just a suggestion
 
Another rumor from another journalist (from gamekult, one usually in charge of japanese games coverage):
At Bitsummit 2016, three months after the CEO change at Platinum, there were backstage rumors about Kamiya leaving.
That said, difficult to know if he is really leaving or "doing an Ancel", but I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to get closer to Capcom or Nintendo.

(I'm french, translation should be correct. He's pretty reliable)
 
I'm curious to know why instead of cancelling won't they just shelve it then work on it again later? I don't think it matters if it releases a year or so late, for example. It feels like a lot of work has already been done (unless the released footage was bogus). The Last Guardian did it.
 
During gamescom 2016 year they showed Scalebound in private showings.

They showed off something called "Dragon Link", something that they, as far as I know, haven't shown to the public ever and now possibly never will. Up until that point they only showed fairly basic combat that looked great but more in the vein of Dragon's Dogma and less like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. That's why many people used to Kamiya's games were pretty disappointed. And then they showed Dragon Link. It's a button you hold and then the camera switched into First Person Mode...and you controlled the dragon. So then you controlled the Dragon from Drew's perspective, which still looks HUGE because the camera doesn't zoom out but goes into first person and you fight against another huge Monster. And then they started comboing. They fluidly switched from Drew to the Dragon to Drew by holding or not holding the Dragon Link button.

Think the weapon system of DmC but instead of holding a button to switch to a certain weapon you hold a button to switch to a fucking dragon. So these two characters juggled that huge monkey enemy into the air with all the usual attacks and combos you know from Platinum Games only it was A HUGE GODDAMN DRAGON DOING THE COMBOS. There was a combo counter and a rating and everything. It was their direct answer to the "Where is the Platinum action?" question.

It looked fucking great and as far as I'm aware they have never released that footage, just as they never showed the HUGE array of customising options and RPG features.

I'm so mad about this cancellation. Goddamnit.

I wanna cry, goddamnit
 
During gamescom 2016 year they showed Scalebound in private showings.

They showed off something called "Dragon Link", something that they, as far as I know, haven't shown to the public ever and now possibly never will. Up until that point they only showed fairly basic combat that looked great but more in the vein of Dragon's Dogma and less like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. That's why many people used to Kamiya's games were pretty disappointed. And then they showed Dragon Link. It's a button you hold and then the camera switched into First Person Mode...and you controlled the dragon. So then you controlled the Dragon from Drew's perspective, which still looks HUGE because the camera doesn't zoom out but goes into first person and you fight against another huge Monster. And then they started comboing. They fluidly switched from Drew to the Dragon to Drew by holding or not holding the Dragon Link button.

Think the weapon system of DmC but instead of holding a button to switch to a certain weapon you hold a button to switch to a fucking dragon. So these two characters juggled that huge monkey enemy into the air with all the usual attacks and combos you know from Platinum Games only it was A HUGE GODDAMN DRAGON DOING THE COMBOS. There was a combo counter and a rating and everything. It was their direct answer to the "Where is the Platinum action?" question.

It looked fucking great and as far as I'm aware they have never released that footage, just as they never showed the HUGE array of customising options and RPG features.

I'm so mad about this cancellation. Goddamnit.
revEvvO.gif
 
I'm curious to know why instead of cancelling won't they just shelve it then work on it again later? I don't think it matters if it releases a year or so late, for example. It feels like a lot of work has already been done (unless the released footage was bogus). The Last Guardian did it.

Last Guardian was a smaller project than this.
 
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