Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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Man this news punched me in the gut soul this morning. I haven't been on GAF or really elsewhere on the internet much because I've had my head far up Stardew Valley's butt.

I thought it looked bad from the showings it has had too, but since I think it was a PAX panel when Kamiya said it was like his dream game, I really wanted to see how it turned out and was convinced that it'd be a better game whenever they actually finished it.

God...

dammit...
 
bishopcruz said:
That's a deep cut. Haven't seen a game like Sorcerian in forever. I wonder what he meant.
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All we know is that he has a deep impression of the game's tone, monsters, and the scenario system.

http://www.polygon.com/a/life-in-japan/Hideki-Kamiya-Scalebound
And when thinking about fantasy influences that led to Scalebound, he says the computer role-playing game Sorcerian was a big one growing up.

"It's a standard fantasy title with swords, magic and gigantic monsters," he explains. "You can choose from 15 different scenarios in all, and if you buy the separately sold scenario set, you can play even more new adventures. This game was really full of expansive possibilities.

"[Also] a hydra boss appears in the first scenario, so that might be why a hydra appeared in the Scalebound promotion video ... [laughs]."

Kamiya was also inspired by the computer game Hydlide 3. "It's the first software I bought after buying my computer," he says. "Up until then I had only been playing on the NES, and the beautiful graphics and big sound of a high-end computer — PC-8801 MA — stole my heart in an instant."
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http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/09/h...deki-kamiya-views-partnership-with-microsoft/
GamesBeat: We’ve seen a lot of games built around dragons — some successful, like Panzer Dragoon or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Others, like Lair, bombed. Did you look at any particular past games for inspiration?

Kamiya: More than games like those, we were inspired by classic games like Hydlide III or Sorcerian, the Dragon Slayer series, Dragon Quest. The dragons in those games were super compelling, but what pushed me was, can you take how those dragons made you feel and use modern technology to bring that to life in an interesting new way, as opposed to the way they were back in the day?
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digoutyoursoul said:
Maybe he will do something with Nintendo and Switch
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Even then it seems like it'd be a 2020 release at the earlier. His games tend to take at least three years to develop. The shortest period between release was two years (DMC>VJ) while the longest was four years (Bayonetta>W101). Scalebound was scheduled for this year, so that would've been another four year period. With how long games take to develop nowadays it's hard to believe that he could roll concept a new game and get it out in two years unless it's a small scale project.
 
To be honest, I would be very happy as a fan if Kamiya decided to take time off from a major game to just make a small indie title which Platinum can self publish. He loves shmups right? Maybe he should try his hand at making an action packed shmup for digital platforms.
 
digoutyoursoul said:
This what I have been saying though, until this thread, from my own experience browsing here I didn't get the impression it had cult status or resonates strongly. It couldn't even get into the GAF top 20 here

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1330634
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I mean, it got higher than GT Sport, Shenmue III, and Tekken 7. Just because there's more hype for other games doesn't mean that a lot of people weren't excited about it.
 
duckroll said:
To be honest, I would be very happy as a fan if Kamiya decided to take time off from a major game to just make a small indie title which Platinum can self publish. He loves shmups right? Maybe he should try his hand at making an action packed shmup for digital platforms.
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That would actually be pretty cool. I remember an IGN video from a few years ago where he showed off his personal arcade which was filled with shoot'emups and arcade boards. It seems like something that could be a stress reliever for him. A game that doesn't necessarily need to light up sales charts while also being something he's always wanted to make. Just a fun project for him to play around with.
 
Hexa said:
I mean, it got higher than GT Sport, Shenmue III, and Tekken 7. Just because there's more hype for other games doesn't mean that a lot of people weren't excited about it.
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I know I'm just saying I didn't expect that many in this thread based on browsing the forum over the months/years
 
SolidSnakex said:
Even then it seems like it'd be a 2020 release at the earlier. His games tend to take at least three years to develop. The shortest period between release was two years (DMC>VJ) while the longest was four years (Bayonetta>W101). Scalebound was scheduled for this year, so that would've been another four year period. With how long games take to develop nowadays it's hard to believe that he could roll concept a new game and get it out in two years unless it's a small scale project.
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Yeah something smaller, the rumour is he has had some issues so taking on a big project so soon might not be the best idea
 
duckroll said:
To be honest, I would be very happy as a fan if Kamiya decided to take time off from a major game to just make a small indie title which Platinum can self publish. He loves shmups right? Maybe he should try his hand at making an action packed shmup for digital platforms.
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Kamiya should make more 2D games. I would love to see him direct a shmup or action platformer
 
Just read that Phil Spencer tweeted that this is what's best for Xbox gamers...? Cancelling a game is better for gamers? Is he mad?
 
GHG said:
Just read that Phil Spencer tweeted that this is what's best for Xbox gamers...? Cancelling a game is better for gamers? Is he mad?
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I guess he means having MS's money and funding elsewhere is better for gamers than dumping into a project they didn't feel was up to par but it still reeks of shittiness.
 
Lime said:
PR/marketing is never about truth.
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I get that. But that's... Insulting levels of bullshit. Does he really think the fanbase is that stupid?

"Uh so yeh, I know you guys bought the Xbox One to play these announced games, and I know that we are cancelling said announced games, but it's what's best for you, trust me!" *cheesy grin*
 
Famassu said:
Ummm... someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming Sony never returns to trying to push Cell-like exotic hardware with their consoles and keep going forward with x86 architecture with future PS consoles, backwards compatibility is not costly at all. There won't be any need for any kind of emulation, the future hardware should be able to play everything natively so long as every subsequent console is more powerful than the last.
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You're not wrong. It's clear that Sony strategy in the long run is to stick with x86 architecture so the PS4 library could be easily carried over to the next one. The current Sony isn't lead by Krazy Kutaragi no more, so we wouldn't see any tech that's so innovative it left everything else behind.
 
GHG said:
Just read that Phil Spencer tweeted that this is what's best for Xbox gamers...? Cancelling a game is better for gamers? Is he mad?
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Hard to imagine, but I guess it depends on what the money that would've gone to Scalebound provides for gamers ¯_(ツ)_/¯


I planned on buying Scalebound based on it's concept, but the game rarely looked to be very good in the promos I saw. I think it's possible that the game was just shaping up to be a bad one.
 
I can only speak for myself here but personally when I first saw this game, it felt incredibly underwhelming. The guy with the headphones and all that punkness just didn't seem to jive with the dragons etc... I'm not sure what it was but it all just seemed off and seemed to suffer from an identity crisis. I was still looking forward to it because I was being caught in the hype of it being a Platinum game and while disappointed, I can't help to think that the game might have turned out to be disappointing anyways.
 
Revas said:
Hard to imagine,but I guess it depends on what the money that would've gone to Scalebound provides for gamers ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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Yeh well everyone's waiting. I doubt there's a like for like replacement waiting in the wings for the people looking forward to the title.

What did they announce as the replacement for the gaping hole in their lineup left by Fable?
 
No one has really nailed the balance of difficulty/action gameplay vs RPG stuff in an action RPG yet, not even Dragon's Dogma which only kinda gets it in the DLC. I was looking forward to see the Kamiya tackle it because action RPGS were basically my dream genre when I was a kid but the whole thing hasn't really panned out yet.
 
MaulerX said:
I can only speak for myself here but personally when I first saw this game, it felt incredibly underwhelming. The guy with the headphones and all that punkness just didn't seem to jive with the dragons etc... I'm not sure what it was but it all just seemed off and seemed to suffer from an identity crisis. I was still looking forward to it because I was being caught in the hype of it being a Platinum game and while disappointed, I can't help to think that the game might have turned out to be disappointing anyways.
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The identity thing has been touched on by some people with more knowledge than I. And it sounds like a possibility MS had a hand in what the main character looks like, which was very western. Instead of letting platinum do their thing and go wild on it. Imagine an ANrachy Reigns type looking character or something with some style riding a dragon and doing insane combo's.
 
GHG said:
Yeh well everyone's waiting. I doubt there's a like for like replacement waiting in the wings for the people looking forward to the title.

What did they announce as the replacement for the gaping hole in their lineup left by Fable?
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By all accounts MS exclusives this year seem pretty paltry. I'm not sure releasing a bad exclusuve game is the answer to the problem though. They literally have to be working on something to push Scorpio, so we'll see. As far as those of us who planned to buy the game, were sotl but that's game developmernt sometimes.


Papacheeks said:
The identity thing has been touched on by some people with more knowledge than I. And it sounds like a possibility MS had a hand in what the main character looks like, which was very western. Instead of letting platinum do their thing and go wild on it. Imagine an ANrachy Reigns type looking character or something with some style riding a dragon and doing insane combo's.
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Drew's design did not scream "western" to me. I actually thought he was some sort of awful mashup.
 
Phil and Microsoft PR is probably very glad that Switchmas is happening in two days and will finally get this out of the gaming news cycle.

Ain't gonna forget tho.
 
Revas said:
By all accounts MS exclusives this year seem pretty paltry. I'm not sure releasing a bad exclusuve game is the answer to the problem though. They literally have to be working on something to push Scorpio, so we'll see. As far as those of us who planned to buy the game, were sotl but that's game development sometimes.
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A "bad" game is subjective. Every game has a fan base out there somewhere. They just aren't willing to give things a chance anymore.

Say what you will about Sony's exclusive roster in terms of "quality", there are lots of niche and unique experiences to be had there and it all adds up. There's a lot of depth to the library and it draws in fans for all different types of games. That's how you gain mass appeal.

Microsoft seem to think they can achieve the same thing with one single game and when it doesn't look like that's happening during the development cycle they just cancel it. They have no fucking idea what they are doing anymore.
 
GHG said:
Just read that Phil Spencer tweeted that this is what's best for Xbox gamers...? Cancelling a game is better for gamers? Is he mad?
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The way I interpreted that, especially after some of the insider posts here saying the belt is getting tighter on the Xbox division and there's more pressure to deliver, is there are some high stakes involved.

In a way it reminds me of one of my prior jobs. I had just joined a company on their marketing team managing their largest advertising program and it was awesome for about 3 months because I was managing to a metric that my superior assigned me and was blowing it out of the water. What happened in month 3 is the CFO changed the metric and all of sudden my program was drastically underperforming. The CFO's guidelines were harsh, he was cutting my budget by half and there would be more cuts if I didn't reduce the budget and keep it performing at a certain level. If I didn't reach those expectations he'd cut it more. There was no possible way I could reach his expectations, so about 2 months later he says he's cutting my budget again and the next time I can't meet the goals it's going to be shut down for the foreseeable future.

I gutted the whole program, everything I built for several months, and went down to a fraction of my original spend. I had to build it back from the ground up and earn back every penny of my budget little by little, checking in with the CFO every 3 months on the health of the program. It took me about 1.5 years to build it back up to the spend I had originally, but through it I ended up tripling ROI and making the best performing advertising program they had, and got to build out a whole team to keep it growing.

My point is that there may be more at stake such as more budget cuts or downsizing if Spencer can't get things meeting a certain level of expectations, so he might be doing what's necessary just to keep the team going.
 
duckroll said:
I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not saying he made small games. I'm saying he has never made a RPG which has the sort of systems and world design Scalebound would require.
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I dunno, since the last look we got at Scalebound, it just kinda seemed like we'd be getting a pretty Monster Hunter with cool NPC dragon mechanics. And while I love the Monster Hunter games, they're not exactly the sort of thing that needs a specialized engine to cope with the scale, they could totally be done in something like the Dynasty Warriors engine, like Toukiden was.

Don't get me wrong, I was actually totally hyped for Scalebound, but I didn't fool myself as to what it was: A more open and way prettier Toukiden with cool dragon mechanics from a developer that knows good gameplay.

If we're talking about ambition or budget, I just don't see Scalebound being a crazy investment. I mean, I don't think we ever really saw any really open environments in Scalebound, they were just wide-linear, that's a whole different thing.
 
Vinc said:
Maybe not, but I feel that a little honesty goes a long way these days.
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Of course, but marketing isn't about honesty or dishonesty, it's about distorting reality into something that saves face of the company.

if the honesty doesn't align itself with profits and curating the corporate brand, you're not going to see honesty.
 
Sydle said:
The way I interpreted that, especially after some of the insider posts here saying the belt is getting tighter on the Xbox division and there's more pressure to deliver, is there are some high stakes involved.

In a way it reminds me of one of my prior jobs. I had just joined a company on their marketing team managing their largest advertising program and it was awesome for about 3 months because I was managing to a metric that my superior assigned me and was blowing it out of the water. What happened in month 3 is the CFO changed the metric and all of sudden my program was drastically underperforming. The CFO's guidelines were harsh, he was cutting my budget by half and there would be more cuts if I didn't reduce the budget and keep it performing at a certain level. If I didn't reach those expectations he'd cut it more. There was no possible way I could reach his expectations, so about 2 months later he says he's cutting my budget again and the next time I can't meet the goals it's going to be shut down for the foreseeable future.

I gutted the whole program, everything I built for several months, and went down to a fraction of my original spend. I had to build it back from the ground up and earn back every penny of my budget little by little, checking in with the CFO every 3 months on the health of the program. It took me about 1.5 years to build it back up to the spend I had originally, but through it I ended up tripling ROI and making the best performing advertising program they had, and got to build out a whole team to keep it growing.

My point is that there may be more at stake such as more budget cuts or downsizing if Spencer can't get things meeting a certain level of expectations, so he might be doing what's necessary just to keep the team going.
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Thing is, a reason to care about the Xbox division disappeared.

And there isn't a whole lotta reasons to play on Xbox instead of the direct competition.
 
Net said:
Phil and Microsoft PR is probably very glad that Switchmas is happening in two days and will finally get this out of the gaming news cycle.

Ain't gonna forget tho.
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Depends on the follow up news. It doesn't take much to turn this into the next Kojima-Konami controversy- we already have all the hallmarks of it. Plus negative news sticks longer.
 
GHG said:
A "bad" game is subjective. Every game has a fan base out there somewhere. They just aren't willing to give things a chance anymore.
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As a fan of Recore I understand that sentiment. Not knowing what went on, I can only conclude that the game must've been a disaster.

I think MS is in a bad spot. I doubt pretty multiplats will drive Scorpio sales. Phil is going to earn his salary if he can pull this off.
 
Oersted said:
Thing is, a reason to care about the Xbox division disappeared.

And there isn't a whole lotta reasons to play on Xbox instead of the direct competition.
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I imagine a lot of his options these days are about where to trim the budget and sometimes you have to make some really tough decisions. If Scalebound was really going through dev hell and it had a big target on its back due to the size of the budget then it's an obvious place to look.

On top of budget cuts he still has the tow the line on Microsoft's agenda regarding growing service subscriptions and MAU, where big hits are hard to find.

To me it seems like an impossible job.
 
Revas said:
As a fan of Recore I understand that sentiment. Not knowing what went on, I can only conclude that the game must've been a disaster.
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Dude, I like fucking knack of all games. You have no idea how happy I was when knack 2 was announced. I'm glad my "shit" games get second chances in most circumstances. None of the "shit" Microsoft exclusive games I liked ever got sequels though. Kameo? Nah. Chronehounds? Nope.

And we've now reached the point where these "shit" games from Microsoft never even see the light of day because some guy in a suit decides we might not like it? It's a joke. Let the consumers decide, throw a demo/beta out, you might be surprised.

All in all it's why I find their acquisition of minecraft hilarious. That game would have NEVER seen the light of day under Microsoft's current policies. I doubt the concept would have even been greenlit considering where it started and how that game has evolved over the years. They have no idea what it takes to build something anymore. They're just not willing to go through the pain and struggle involved.
 
I was cautiously hopeful for the game to turn into something special...it's Kamiya and co were talking about afterall. Was really looking forward to a demo...now that's not gonna happen. It was the only game that ever got me to open Windows store.

I'm worried for PlatinumGames...hope the cancellation doesn't impact them as deeply as foreshadowed. Hope the team who worked on Scalebound don't get laid off. I hope Kamiya rests up and gets a new project down the line.
 
Principate said:
Bloodborne? Really? Bloodborne is niche as fuck in the grand scheme of things. A number of wii u first parties have outsold that game and likely MS as well.
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I'm really late into this Bloodborne and niche discussion, but I'm going to chime in anyway.

Bloodborne (and Soulsborne at that matter) shouldn't be considered as niche game as it solds two million copies in less than year. It's definitely a game that will be included in a casual answer to "what games that PS4 have", unlike let's say Toukiden Kiwami or Digimon Cyber Sleuth that will only be mentioned if the questioner is part of that audience.

Soulsborne isn't a niche game (or genre even) anymore as some people want it to believe. It's definitely have become part of this generation that stands between the mainstream and core audience. Dismissing its influence to the diversity of PS4 library as being niche doesn't hold up when you look up to the sales number.

EDIT: further back in the thread, you mentioned that Bloodborne sold 2 millions and still have the audacity to called it a mediocre success, basing on comparison with Gears.
Okay lol, no point of discussing this in rational way further.
 
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GHG said:
Let the consumers decide, throw a demo/beta out, you might be surprised.
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Man, just eariler today Tim Getty's of Kinda Funny was just talking about how good a demo could be. He said that he saw Nier Automata and thought it looked cool but the demo sealed the deal on it being a game he's definitely going to be playing.
 
Was last week's message from Platinum's president posted in this thread yet? In hindsight, it seems to be indirectly referring to cancellation:
Happy New Year, everyone!

Last year, PlatinumGames celebrated its 10th anniversary, and it proved to be a major turning point in our company’s history. We’ve worked hard to reorganize our company in order to achieve further progress in the next 10 years, such as by reforming the company structure and by improving the working conditions. I have also told all of the company staff about my intentions to create a completely new and original company-owned IP within 3 years. Ever since PlatinumGames was founded, we’ve always dreamed of owning our own IP, and last year we made the first steps towards achieving that goal.

Last year also saw the release of “Star Fox Zero,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan.” I would like to extend my gratitude towards everyone who played our games last year. Thank you.

And now it’s 2017! We’re starting this year off strong by releasing “NieR:Automata” at the end of February in Japan and early March in the West, and we have a few more releases planned before the year is over. The video game industry is constantly changing at a rapid and dramatic rate, and we plan to be as flexible as we can in order to deal with these changes. I think 2017 will be an important year for achieving results with the company reforms we implemented last year.

We want to set the world standard in player satisfaction. This has always been our goal, and this will never change. It is this goal that will drive us through 2017 as well, and we will keep working hard to bring smiles to the faces of all of our fans across the globe.

We hope you will continue to support us this year as well.
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Source: https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/9217
 
Shengar said:
I'm really late into this Bloodborne and niche discussion, but I'm going to chime in anyway.

Bloodborne (and Soulsborne at that matter) shouldn't be considered as niche game as it solds two million copies in less than year. It's definitely a game that will be included in a casual answer to "what games that PS4 have", unlike let's say Toukiden Kiwami or Digimon Cyber Sleuth that will only be mentioned if the questioner is part of that audience.

Soulsborne isn't a niche game (or genre even) anymore as some people want it to believe. It's definitely have become part of this generation that stands between the mainstream and core audience. Dismissing its influence to the diversity of PS4 library as being niche doesn't hold up when you look up to the sales number.

EDIT: further back in the thread, you mentioned that Bloodborne sold 2 millions and still have the audacity to called it a mediocre success, basing on comparison with Gears.
Okay lol, no point of discussing this in rational way further.
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BloodBorne had the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra play its music,likely sold well over 3 million copies on a single platform.

''Niche'' ? Lmfao
 
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