Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

Status
Not open for further replies.
The narrative that MS has become a potentially toxic environment for devs to allign with is one that I do not quite wish to believe fully, though the amount of troubles that have been mentioned by other devs is disheartening. A platform holder is a great thing for the industry, an injection of resources that should allow the development of teams, so seeing the very opposite is sad..

As stated earlier in the thread, there devs that benefit greatly from working with Microsoft and speak highly of the relationship. Playground Games (Forza Horizon series) and High Moon (Ori and the Blind Forest).
 
To be honest ,ps4 exclusive for Jan: Gr2,Yakuza0,
Miku, KH(seems go pc later) compare to Xbox exclusive this year list, what's your thoughts. Phil's confidence make me confuse
 
I'm just an adult. Don't sign a contract if you think it's unfair and can't do it. Want better terms? Create something consumers value. So, thanks but no thanks, keep your advice.

How nice to be in a position with enough cash on hand or personal means to be able to bat back bad or abusive contracts. I'm not even accepting the idea that PG were on the bad end of abusive contract practices but to pretend they don't exist is just daft. For example very few people want the 'flexibility' zero-hour contracts offer but the folks pushed onto them aren't exactly drowning in offers of better employment.
 
All this baseless speculation colored by which "side" people are on is disheartening.

And MS making an impossible contract? Seems counterproductive, but still on PG for taking it. Don't wanna be forced to take contracts like that? Go 2nd party or make games that can sell.

The implication is that deadlines were set and/or altered after signing the contract; not much they can do if that's the case. If it turns out that the deadlines were specified in the contract and Platinum simply overestimated their capacity to deliver them, then indeed they would be the ones at fault.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely we will ever know. As I said, even assuming any of them were to tell what really happened, nothing any side says is probably going to change the mind of the other side's fans. Even if Platinum went on to say that the deadlines were changed, Microsoft fans will go on to believe they were at fault, and indeed, I won't believe anything from Microsoft.

For any consensus to be reached, it'd take Microsoft admitting they changed deadlines to impossible goals, or Platinum admitting they were given reasonable, unchanging deadlines they failed to meet. I don't see either happening.
 
i've never understood why a studio would cancel a game this late in and flush whatever they've invested so far down the drain? surely it would be wiser to invest a bit more, and have a product at the end that you can actually sell? it's not like MS are short of cash.. fable was the same, last i heard that was practically finished and in a long running beta phase. what do you gain from cancelling that so close to the finish line? it would have made at least some money. maybe no broke even, but cancelling it removed any and all chances of making ANY money.

i'm not sure platinum need any good vibes sending their way either really. they'll be fine. they have their hand in a big release this year with nier and they have another 2 projects in-line for 2018. if anything getting out of what was clearly a toxic partnership should help them do their job better.

Like I said earlier, obviously Microsoft thought they'd save more money by cancelling now then paying for another 8+ months of development for a game that was getting luke-warm reactions online and was apparently missing milestones.
 
I'm just an adult. Don't sign a contract if you think it's unfair and can't do it. Want better terms? Create something consumers value. So, thanks but no thanks, keep your advice.
As an adult then you should be in the known as some situations force you into unfavorable contracts and the power dynamics that come involved with it.
 
I'm just an adult. Don't sign a contract if you think it's unfair and can't do it. Want better terms? Create something consumers value. So, thanks but no thanks, keep your advice.

That's not how it really works for independent developers of a certain size in the industry. If you're "an adult" you should probably educate yourself on the challenges people face in their jobs and the power dynamics in contract work before trying to sound like a rational tough guy.
 
Phil is the top.

The higher ups at MS won't be deciding which project XBOX should axe and this type of things. They will most likely give guidelines and objectives of which Spencer will fulfill as he see fit.

Like any major company, he has to report to a board of directors and senior leaders, especially a CFO. If they feel the game will not be profitable and will be a loss for the company, they can tell him to scrap it.

Phil is not the end all, be all of Xbox.

Take a look at Microsoft's senior leaders, Phil is nowhere to be found:
http://news.microsoft.com/microsoft...dzlsvcpxxe6trua2ii1kqkdnv#Wg5SoVIEHMIL3zz7.97
 
I'm baffled by people throwing "milestones" as some kind of trick word to make it look like lazy devs at Platinum are responsible for this.

Platinum is a mercenary studio. They worked under various contracts with often low budgets and short dev times and they were always able to deliver something. They were hitting these milestones from Activision, Nintendo, Konami and so on easily. Imagine what Microsoft demanded if they couldn't get it done now.

We don't know any details on what happened, but giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt after taking past events into consideration is insane here.
 
How nice to be in a position with enough cash on hand or personal means to be able to bat back bad or abusive contracts. I'm not even accepting the idea that PG were on the bad end of abusive contract practices but to pretend they don't exist is just daft. For example very few people want the 'flexibility' zero-hour contracts offer but the folks pushed onto them aren't exactly drowning in offers of better employment.
So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever even did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?
 
on the bright side, now kamiya is free for that bayonetta X devil may cry game right? right?


I would be OK even with Bayo 3 as long as it's kamiya's on the helm. and it brings it back to the goodness of the first game.
 
I'm not sure Nintendo want to buy them after the Failure of Star Fox, even if this is not 100% of their fault.

I think Nier Automa will throw them more on S-E or Sony Hands.
Star Fox's failure has more to do with Nintendo than Platinum. Technically, the game is quite impressive (60 fps x 2 screens). It's the controls (via Nintendo) that suck.
 
i've never understood why a studio would cancel a game this late in and flush whatever they've invested so far down the drain? surely it would be wiser to invest a bit more, and have a product at the end that you can actually sell? it's not like MS are short of cash.. fable was the same, last i heard that was practically finished and in a long running beta phase. what do you gain from cancelling that so close to the finish line? it would have made at least some money. maybe no broke even, but cancelling it removed any in and all chances of making ANY money.

i'm not sure platinum need any good vibes sending their way either really. they'll be fine. they have their hand in a big release this year with nier and they have another 2 projects in-line for 2018. if anything getting out of what was clearly a toxic partnership should help them do their job better.


I can't help but think of The Last Guardian.
It makes me glad that Sony didn't ditched it.

I personally don't like MS but I was looking forward to this game, always had a soft spot for dragon riding game:

I've hoped that Scalebound was going to scratch that Panzer Dragoon Saga itch.
It's really a shame.
 
So for 2017 we have the following xbox games.

-Halo Wars 2 (will be released 100%)
-Sea of Thieves (does not have an exact release date besides 2017 1Q)
-Cuphead (does not have an exact release date besides summer 2017)
-Crackdown 3 (does not have an exact release date besides holiday 2017).

These titles aren't big heavy hitters anyway, system sellers.
Even then look at this lineup. 3 out of 4 aren't even 100%. Still a chance one or two of them might be cancelled at this rate. This is the worst lineup I can think of in quite some time.

They should make an honest commercial leading to E3. Instead of saying the best xbox lineup of all time. They should be honest for once and call it ''the worst xbox lineup of all time''.

With 2017 looking like one of the best years in recent memory for the PS4.... that lineup on XB is laughable.

I actually laughed when I saw that. If I had an xbox I'd be buying none of them games.

Obviously I'm not gonna start going 'lol xbox dead' n stuff but if I owned an xboxone i'd be pissed
 
So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever even did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?

Hilarious comparison.
 
Holy fucking shit, my shitty memory failed me. I just realized that Platinum made METAL GEAR RISING.

FUCKKKK. I don't know why but this is making me more upset. Platinum Games with big budget is always a masterful experience.
 
I'm not sure Nintendo want to buy them after the Failure of Star Fox, even if this is not 100% of their fault.

I think Nier Automa will throw them more on S-E or Sony Hands.
Not that I think this will happen, but how many games have they worked on for SE? 1? For Sony? 0? So far it's 3 for Nintendo.
 
So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever even did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?

Riiight, because thats exactly how these contracts are made lol
 
Not that I think this will happen, but how many games have they worked on for SE? 1? For Sony? 0? So far it's 3 for Nintendo.

Isn't it more like 5. W101, Bayonetta port, Bayonetta 2, Star Fox, Star Fox Guard?

So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever even did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?

Okay let's talk about contracts. Here's another example, send me $500 right now over Paypal and I won't ban you in 2 hours. You can't be forced into bad contracts unless you want to!
 
So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever even did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?

I mean, you. What you wrote makes me think this.
 
That's not how it really works for independent developers of a certain size in the industry. If you're "an adult" you should probably educate yourself on the challenges people face in their jobs and the power dynamics in contract work before trying to sound like a rational tough guy.
How about you comment on the content of my posts and keep needless comments like tough guy to yourself?

I don't doubt they face challenged. So do many, many, many other successful companies. Unfair is government controlling production and only legally allowing a corporation or entity terrible terms. No such compulsion here. If PGA signed a bad contract and got burned, it's on them.

Either self fund and make money, take a loan and make money, or sign elsewhere for more favorable terms.
 
No side. I greatly prefer Sony but have to have my Forza. That's the only reason I have an Xbox. Nier is one of 4 games I will pre-order for 2017.

I'm just an adult. Don't sign a contract if you think it's unfair and can't do it. Want better terms? Create something consumers value. So, thanks but no thanks, keep your advice.

"No side, but against all evidence I'm choosing to assume Platinum signed a contract with clearly specified deadlines that weren't changed later on, so I can pin all blame on them".
 
So, create something of value. This isn't a charity. Nobody can enter into a bad contract unless they want to. If they ever need did. I never said they don't exist.

Take this convo. If I told you to send me $500 right now for rights to read this post, it'd be absurd. Right? But if you did it, who's the dumb one?

The contract offer is the wrong way around, if you offered me $500 to read the post and I was only a few hours away from seeing my dream die I might take that. Even if the terms of the contract allowed you to demand I do so 'in a way you saw fit' which I thought meant 'in a suit and tie' but were later revealed to mean 'while skateboarding naked and smearing yourself with baked beans'.

Contracts are full of language that can be abusive or not depending on the parties to the contract and how much goodwill they bring to the table. It is entirely possible MS saw the game, were unhappy and decided to save themselves additional development and marketing costs by setting unachievable milestones so as to avoid the contract cancellation terms by making it a 'for cause' termination. Truth is we'll likely never know, contracts are private and the japanese dev culture is particularly tight lipped about such things on top of that but the dividing line is rarely as stark as good contract / bad contract on the day of signing
 
How big is Neogaf's influence? I mean could neogaf community try and convince Microsoft to give this story a better ending?

If GAF was an indicator of a larger community then all of Platinum's games would be million sellers and Clinton would be president.

It's time to move on ._.
 
How about you comment on the content of my posts and keep needless comments like tough guy to yourself?

I don't doubt they face challenged. So do many, many, many other successful companies. Unfair is government controlling production and only legally allowing a corporation or entity terrible terms. No such compulsion here. If PGA signed a bad contract and got burned, it's on them.

Either self fund and make money, take a loan and make money, or sign elsewhere for more favorable terms.

I'm starting to suspect that you don't know what a red colored name means.

He is attempting to give you a hint that you are stubbornly refusing to accept.
 
"Don't sign bad contracts" is such an ignorant point of view.

Just take a good look at contract law in the US and you'll see so many provisions dealing with the imbalance of power between parties and the remedies in available when the imbalance is too great.

Contracts aren't generally fair or balanced for both sides. Especially for contractual work.
 
"No side, but against all evidence I'm choosing to assume Platinum signed a contract with clearly specified deadlines that weren't changed later on, so I can pin all blame on them".
Oh, there's evidence (apparently a lot?) MS changed the terms? I won't even hold you to a lot. How about you provide even one iota of "evidence" showing that.
 
TBH Kamiya has possibly a freedom and status inside PG, that he might hard difficult to find in other places, that said he might feel that the only way to make the games he wants is in another company.

Maybe he can join Tango games lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom