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[StoppedInTracks]

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.

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!"

 

[KHlover]

Good.
Now they will have time to fix Turtles in Manhattan

That game was literally pulled from all digital storefronts last week. It's just as dead as Scalebound.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I wasn't interested in Scalebound, but Microsoft really needs to step it up with the exclusives.

 

[Majestic 12]

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.

It was still something considering Microsofts lack of upcoming exclusives. Mr Spencer has been a mess.

 

[ResidentDante]

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!"

Lol, this so much

 

[Cranster]

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!"

Yup, that is exactly what I noticed aswell. It couldn't be anymore obvious.

It was still something considering Microsofts lack of upcoming exclusives. Mr Spencer has been a mess.

Probably less about the game and more concern about Platinum.

Its not so much people liking the game as how it represents the state of the Xbox brand right now.

Bullshit!

Trade shows don't always tell the full story. Assuming this is consistent with history. This was 4 years of money for a fantasy epic that was looking to push forward the medium by one of the best and it's now lost because games as a service and ROI as determined by MS. This game was untouchable and a prestigious project.

Scalebound looked like another generic DMC clone. It didn't look like it was going to push anything forward but disappointment.

 

[lightskintwin]

Disappointing, but I'm always fascinated how people are upset at not playing the "potential" of game, rather than facing the reality that the game was mediocre and the publisher cut their losses rather than throwing more money into a game that was no longer worth salvaging.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

It was still something considering Microsofts lack of upcoming exclusives. Mr Spencer has been a mess.

Can't believe 4 years ago he was hailed at the potential savior of Xbox. I know compared to Matrick he's better, but who wouldn't be?

 

[Hoo-doo]

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!"

Maybe try to see the bigger picture.

Scalebound was the #1 most anticipated Xbox One exclusive of the year on GAF. With an already tepid line-up, cancelling one of your unique pet projects headed by Kamiya is a heavy blow. And with the ever-growing list of insider news coming out of this whole debacle, the discussion is now more about Microsoft's role in the situation and their role with third-party relations in general.

This event is bigger than 'just' Scalebound getting canned. Don't be so naive.

 

[InquisitorAles]

Well, just as i predicted, bare PR statement without any details and over 100+ pages with handful of overreacted responses like "fuck MS". Personally i think both Microsoft and Platinum are fucked up with this project, but MS are indeed sucks at public relations and this is not surprising that some people will blame only them. I do hope we will get more details about situation around development of this game sometimes, but right now this news gives not a good image for Xbox brand.

 

[Pac3y]

Just woken up and seen this, totally ruined my day. Was so looking forward to this. /rip

 

[Kevtones]

Did its sequel get cancelled too?

 

[icespide]

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!"

people really think no one was excited about this game huh? that is bullshit

 

[FlutterPuffs]

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!"

Are the people saying these contradictionary statements the same people?

 

[Ratrat]

Yup, that is exactly what I noticed aswell. It couldn't be anymore obvious.





Bullshit!

Scalebound looked like another generic DMC clone. It didn't look like it was going to push anything forward but disappointment.

This forum gave Bayonetta 2 goty and Nier has a 60+ page thread for just a demo. People love Platinum.

 

[Neonep]

One thing I keep thinking about is how come Microsoft couldn't see this through, get it out, and get some type of money back. If it was a game the just entered or was in pre-production, ok but man this game was 4 years in already and was shown at conferences multiple times.

 

[Piichan]

One other thing this problem makes me think again: I would really wish big publishers/platform holders would hold off announcing games so far from release. Announce a game when you believe it can be completed and have a good idea when it comes out.

Building hype at E3 with game announcements is important, but they end up being meaningless when stuff like this happens.

 

[RiccochetJ]

If an indie in interested in doing AA or AAA work and has already made an agreement with a publisher, then yes they have very little power.

I don't really know what the rest of your post has to do with this discussion.

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.

 

[maverick40]

Full List of upcoming Xbox One exclusive† games with both a developer and publisher listed:

• Natsuki Chronicle (2017)
• Candleman (Q1 2017)
• Mystereet F: The Detectives’ Curtain Call (TBA)
• Students of the Round 2 (TBA)

Likewise, here is the PS4 list by the same definition:

• Gravity Rush 2 (20-Jan-17)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (24-Jan-17)
• Nioh (7-Feb-17)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (28-Feb-17)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (28-Mar-17)
• MLB The Show 17 (28-Mar-17)
• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Q2 2017)
• DJMax Respect (Jul-17)
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017)
• Dreams (2017)
• Gran Turismo Sport (2017)
• Hot Shots Golf (2017)
• Nex Machina: Death Machine (2017)
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2017)
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017)
• Vane (2017)
• Wattam (2017)
• Wipeout Omega Collection (2017)
• Ace Combat 7 (TBA)
• Dangun Feveron (TBA)
• Days Gone (TBA)
• Detroit: Become Human (TBA)
• Earth Defense Force 5 (TBA)
• God of War (TBA)
• Godling (TBA)
• Gundam Versus (TBA)
• Knack 2 (TBA)
• The Last of Us Part II (TBA)
• MatterFall (TBA)
• Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin (TBA)
• Ready to Run (TBA)
• Spider-Man (TBA)
• Trails of Cold Steel III (TBA)
• Vector (TBA)
• VizionEck (TBA)
• WiLD (TBA)
• The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 (TBA)
• Without Memory (TBA)

---
†: Exclusive defined here as a game that is on the xbox one and no other platform, including PC

Depressing. The two are not even in competition anymore

 

[Jintor]

sucks for platinum and kamiya. three or four years of work down the toilet.'

can't honestly say it was showing well though. But it was the largest departure from what's become the Platinum formula yet

 

[Neonep]

One other thing this problem makes me think again: I would really wish big publishers/platform holders would hold off announcing games so far from release. Announce a game when you believe it can be completed and have a good idea when it comes out.

Building hype at E3 with game announcements is important, but they end up being meaningless when stuff like this happens.

This doesn't happen very often though.

 

[Chrisdk]

It's unfortunate but damn you guys are overreacting. It just looks like the game was too ambitious to run on the Xbox One. The gameplay we saw looked really rough and who knows if it was even running on an Xbox One. The features they talked about sounded way too demanding for the Xbox One.

Shit happens, games gets cancelled all the time. Not sure why people are talking about this like it's the end of days for Microsoft.

Microsoft hasn't even had a chance to show new games this year, probably have to wait till E3. Like better wait untill they have showed what they have before sounding the alarm...

 

[Mechazawa]

Yup, that is exactly what I noticed aswell. It couldn't be anymore obvious.





Bullshit!

Scalebound looked like another generic DMC clone. It didn't look like it was going to push anything forward but disappointment.

So you went from "man people were ragging on it a few days ago weird" to "it's a sony fanboy conspiracy" to "scalebound wasn't gonna be shit lol DMC clones"

/impressed

 

[dragonelite]

One thing I keep thinking about is how come Microsoft couldn't see this through, get it out, and get some type of money back. If it was a game the just entered or was in pre-production, ok but man this game was 4 years in already and was shown at conferences multiple times.

I'm pretty sure microsoft did a revenue to costs analysis. The game had no big hype or following after two E3 it would probably not generate enough revenue to cover the remaining work. Don't forget the project was already a year overtime from what I read in this thread.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Scalebound looked like another generic DMC clone. It didn't look like it was going to push anything forward but disappointment.

It was gonna be an open world RPG. I don't know where your getting the DMC clone from other than the main protagonist. None of it really matters anyway since we saw so little of what the game was really going to be.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Full List of upcoming Xbox One exclusive† games with both a developer and publisher listed:

• Natsuki Chronicle (2017)
• Candleman (Q1 2017)
• Mystereet F: The Detectives’ Curtain Call (TBA)
• Students of the Round 2 (TBA)

Likewise, here is the PS4 list by the same definition:

• Gravity Rush 2 (20-Jan-17)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (24-Jan-17)
• Nioh (7-Feb-17)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (28-Feb-17)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (28-Mar-17)
• MLB The Show 17 (28-Mar-17)
• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Q2 2017)
• DJMax Respect (Jul-17)
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017)
• Dreams (2017)
• Gran Turismo Sport (2017)
• Hot Shots Golf (2017)
• Nex Machina: Death Machine (2017)
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2017)
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017)
• Vane (2017)
• Wattam (2017)
• Wipeout Omega Collection (2017)
• Ace Combat 7 (TBA)
• Dangun Feveron (TBA)
• Days Gone (TBA)
• Detroit: Become Human (TBA)
• Earth Defense Force 5 (TBA)
• God of War (TBA)
• Godling (TBA)
• Gundam Versus (TBA)
• Knack 2 (TBA)
• The Last of Us Part II (TBA)
• MatterFall (TBA)
• Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin (TBA)
• Ready to Run (TBA)
• Spider-Man (TBA)
• Trails of Cold Steel III (TBA)
• Vector (TBA)
• VizionEck (TBA)
• WiLD (TBA)
• The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 (TBA)
• Without Memory (TBA)

---
†: Exclusive defined here as a game that is on the xbox one and no other platform, including PC

This *IS* depressing even if you strike out the PC titles from that Sony list.

 

[icespide]

It's unfortunate but damn you guys are overreacting. It just looks like the game was too ambitious to run on the Xbox One. The gameplay we saw looked really rough and who knows if it was even running on an Xbox One. The features they talked about sounded way too demanding for the Xbox One.

Shit happens, games gets cancelled all the time. Not sure why people are talking about this like it's the end of days for Microsoft.

Microsoft hasn't even had a chance to show new games this year, probably have to wait till E3. Like better wait untill they have showed what they have before sounding the alarm...

huge AAA 3rd party exclusives that have been at multiple events do not get canceled all the time

 

[Neonep]

I'm pretty sure microsoft did a revenue to costs analysis. The game had no big hype or following after two E3 it would probably not generate enough revenue to cover the remaining work. Don't forget the project was already a year overtime from what I read in this thread.

It was only a month behind from what I read. Also there wasn't really much on this game to get hyped, they would go dark on this game 5-6 months at a time.

 

[Nictel]

I couldn't be more excited about Persona 5. I haven't contributed or looked in the Persona 5 threads. I would be devastated if the EU release somehow got cancelled. Sure there are a lot of 'MS is doomed' posts, I made some joke troll posts myself. But the vocal fanbase is always smaller than the amount of interested people. A cancellation causing more uproar is not that surprising.

Though if you remove all the 'MS is doomed' and 'lol people saying MS is doomed' posts out you probably end up with like three pages.

 

[Chrisdk]

One thing I keep thinking about is how come Microsoft couldn't see this through, get it out, and get some type of money back. If it was a game the just entered or was in pre-production, ok but man this game was 4 years in already and was shown at conferences multiple times.

Probably because they couldn't get it to run on the Xbox One with the features they wanted. It sounded way too ambitious for something that the Xbox One had to run.

 

[Jack cw]

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!"

Has Statham hacked your Account?

 

[Hawk269]

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!"

Exactly this. Now with it cancelled, the entire MS 1st Party portfolio is shit and they have nothing exclusive all because one game was canned, which most called shit anyways, but now that it cancelled it is the worst thing ever and is now throwing the entire existence of MS as a video game company into question.

It then has the added bonus of people making not 1, not 2 but up to 4 different threads now about MS and how they handle devs, portfolio, listening to fans etc. It is pretty amazing to see how some here feel that the cancellation of this one game is causing such an uproar.

 

[_Clash_]

It's unfortunate but damn you guys are overreacting. It just looks like the game was too ambitious to run on the Xbox One. The gameplay we saw looked really rough and who knows if it was even running on an Xbox One. The features they talked about sounded way too demanding for the Xbox One.

Shit happens, games gets cancelled all the time. Not sure why people are talking about this like it's the end of days for Microsoft.

Microsoft hasn't even had a chance to show new games this year, probably have to wait till E3. Like better wait untill they have showed what they have before sounding the alarm...

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

 

[Neonep]

Probably because they couldn't get it to run on the Xbox One with the features they wanted. It sounded way too ambitious for something that the Xbox One had to run.

Yeah, I keep thinking this too.

 

[Dragun619]

Why is thread nearing 6k replies?

The fucking OT would have ended with half of that. This isn't that big of a deal, guys. Game looked shit, move on.

I mean, it's easy to see. You got a combination of people who we're generally looking forward to the game,

People that's trying to breakdown how & why it has lead to Microsoft's decision to cancel it

And People who genuinely care about Hideki Kamiya & the future of Platinum Games. So there's plenty to discuss here.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Why is thread nearing 6k replies?

The fucking OT would have ended with half of that. This isn't that big of a deal, guys. Game looked shit, move on.

Your not worried about the future of MS and the Xbox brand and it's relationship with Japanese developers? Or frankly any developers?

 

[oni-link]

A shame, my thoughts are with Kamiya at this time, I hope he takes some time off so he can throw himself into a new project in the future

 

[Cranster]

So you went from "man people were ragging on it a few days ago weird" to "it's a sony fanboy conspiracy" to "scalebound wasn't gonna be shit lol DMC clones"

/impressed

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.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Fable Legends. 70 milllion dollar budget. Closed beta stage. Shown alongside Halo 5, Gears 4, Forza 6 and Rise of The Tomb Raider as part of the "greatest games lineup in xbox history" in not one, but two conferences. Cancelled.

If Scalebound was as enjoyable as the Fable Legends beta I played, I think it's probably for the best.

Sad for the teams that it didn't work out though, obviously.

 

[_Clash_]

Edit. Doubles.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Beside Fable Legends, how rarely do we seen such major AAA game cancelled after so many showing ? Gameplay showing that is. It wasn't a vaporware at this point...

This seems sureal

 

[TommyTosser]

I wasn't interested in Scalebound, but Microsoft really needs to step it up with the exclusives.

This. I thought it looked like utter shit and didn't interest me at all. I wish we had some new IP's to look forward to.

 

[Leyasu]

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.

Lol after the E3 showing, I don't remember seeing much excitement for it either.....

 

[icespide]

Should have made it a Scorpio launch game then. Perfect.

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"?

 

[Majestic 12]

Yup, that is exactly what I noticed aswell. It couldn't be anymore obvious.

lol you know I can apply the same in reverse -

Before cancellation: "OMG! Scalebound looks amazing, Microsoft bringing the big guns to the show, Cant wait to pick it up!!! WOOO!" - (Have a look at the original reveal thread)

After cancellation:

Scalebound looked like another generic DMC clone. It didn't look like it was going to push anything forward but disappointment.

Easy right?

Bullshit!

Pretty much the right word for the xbox lineup this year.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Well sure that's usually things that are off the record, as those are employees' rights. But the senior members taking a month off (that's a pretty long vacation) on a project that's been getting delayed and looks to be a top and urgent priority is not that common. The project just got out of hand at that point.

Yeah like I said at the end you rarely see this with senior members, even if that should be the case! We are in agreement there.

 

[_Clash_]

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"?

Infinitely better than canning it if FPS were the major issue

 

[Mr Reasonable]

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.

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.

 

[icespide]

Infinitely better than canning it if FPS were the major issue

goes against the entire point of th new console and would set an awful precedent

 

[Stripper13]

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!"

This sort of shit doesn't help at all.
Who was saying Scalebound was a shitty game? It had a couple of questionable showings but I think the general ambivalence to Scalebound was largely because nothing of real substance had been demonstrated (to the public) yet. I'm sure that hype would have built as the release became imminent or if more content was distributed (e.g. the Dragon Link footage).

I'm a huge Platinum fan and own an XB1 but I had no hype for Scalebound because it still felt like it was far off and the marketing, previews etc had not even started. I'm sad it is gone because it could have been great.

Given the positive momentum MS picked up with XB1S after years of negativity, I don't feel this was a good decision at all - particularly given their recent history of handling new IP and 3rd party projects.
Those who are jumping on it may be doing so to take another swing at MS, who knows. But I imagine there are many more who are just frustrated with Microsofts inability to get their shit together for a variety of reasons. We don't know the full story, but cancelling another project from a 3rd party developer was always going to go poorly. It's many times worse because Microsoft pulled the plug on a Platinum game of all things.