Rumor: Scalebound is "Still Alive" and is Being Rebooted by Microsoft

Microsoft has also filed an extension for the Scalebound trademark.

Take this one with a huge, fistful of salt, but a new rumor suggests that Microsoft has rebooted Scalebound and that the IP is “still alive,” and that it could continue without Platinum Games’ involvement.

http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/1265181-rumor-scalebound-still-alive-rebooted-microsoft

Microsoft was like, screw this, well make the shit ourselves. Cant really blame them, hopefully they can do something cool with it.

Makes sense I guess. You don't just throw away all the assets that were created during the production. Suppose we will see at E3!

Not at all far fetched considering they've already invested millions in the new IP albeit foolishly spent on that SnowFlake Games dev. but still, they can easily get a more reliable dev and do it right ending up with a very worthwhile game this time. :P

I hope this rumor turns out to be true. All the same, I wonder who will be put in charge. I generally love Hideki Kamiya's games so it's a real shame he won't be involved. I wonder how much different it will be without him. Whoever takes the role of director now better be really impressive. :P

Making games is hard!!! WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! LOL

maybe ninja theory? I really liked heavenly sword/enslaved.

Tehe, I figured that ruffle some feathers and now even more with you helping.... . lololol

I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't think Plat is coming back for it

@fantasygamer: Potentially! Although admittedly I haven't played those games. :/

Kamiya is such a great designer in terms of mechanical depth in his games. He's really hard to top.

This is what happens when you take a 200 man team and develop 9 games at the same time as a project like Scalebound.

Between the announcement of Scalebound and the cancellation, Platinum Games started and/or finished these games: Bayonetta 2, The Legend of Korra, Transformers: Devastation, Star Fox Zero, Star Fox Guard, TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan, Nier Automatica, Granblue Fantasy Project, and Lost Order.

On top of this, they apparently forced senior developers off of Scalebound by late 2016, after the game had already been delayed. It was the nail in the coffin. They missed major deadlines that Microsoft had set in order to get the game back on track to the point where Microsoft stopped funding the project and finally cancelled it. From the same sources the game was also still having major performance issues.

I hate that people keep pushing the idea that Microsoft took this lightly, yet Microsoft had the most to lose with their decision. They bought the IP, funded the project, paid to advertise, gave it two E3 demonstrations, delayed it and gave them more time to work on it and now that it's cancelled they spent all that money and have nothing as a result.

Great lets add another 2 years on top of the 3 already the game has on development..lol

Just turned off Bayonetta 2 and I must say "if PG aren't working on it then I don't care".

Before Scalebound got canned, I personally drop this game off my radar when Platinum said they ditch choosing to play as a female in the game and wanted just another Dante wannabe and when that happen, I drop that game off my list because Plat wanted just a dudebro and not letting gamers picking a girl over a guy. If by any chance MS can actually let me pick a female Dragon Tamer in Scalebound, I'll put this game back on my list if by all means.

Calling it now, 343 Industries is working on the game.

Playground Games is said to be working on something not named Forza so I'll go with that. :P

There is a followup tweet that confirms that development has resumed and is being done by a team "close" to MS.

I cant link because im driving but someone google and post.

I also thought the initial idea of a young girl sounded more enticing than just another Dante.

Damn shame.

I guess we'll have to wait for E3 2017 to see if it'll show up on MS press conference and hey, I be surprise if they show it performance for there Scorpio.

haha that's not even remotely what happened with Scalebound. Link

I love how we're all assuming the company that made Revengeance inside of a year (salvaged that game on a completely different engine no less), and has been contracted to do Nier quickly and work for Activision because they work on a timely manner was clearly at fault. And it couldn't possibly be a creative clash with Microsoft being too handsy, when we've had multiple examples of Microsoft just being dicks be it how they handled Lionhead at the end or the Phantom Dust project.

Lol, that's just Platinum Games version...

LOL What? Dude where have you been since the cancellation? The entire internet blames MS for it completely ignoring many reports of a game engine that still blew after 3+ years work on it. I have maintained all along that it takes two to tango and both need to share the blame but got blasted about how the evil American company interfered with the genius artist. Spare me that bullpussy.

Lionhead I totally agree with. Lionhead didn't even wanted to work with Legends, they wanted to do Fable 4 by turning it into a Witcher 3 wannabe but MS rejected that. Still however, I didn't blame MS, this is all on Platinum.

Hopefully, if Scalebound is back on tracks, I'll be glad to see it's release for those who was totally looking forward to it.

Yeah it's a damn shame and coming from a Japanese developer that is Platinum, you would think they like to include a female in there games at all!

I really didn't like the main character since the reveal & if MS is indeed bringing it back, they better change up the main character.

Right, sure, now let's go over the Microsoft version of the story with a credible sourc.....oh there isn't one. Meanwhile you have Adam Bolton n Michael McWhertor, two individual journalists working for two different sites, both saying that Microsoft was dicked over in terms of not being paid for a year, among other things.

Platinum definitely spread themselves out a bit too thin, but this myth that Microsoft had no role in fucking up here is laughable at best. A good chunk of the games have such small ass teams at Platinum, that it would hardly impact a Kamiya job, considering he's been their biggest asset from a creative standpoint.

Why bother canceling the game at all? I'm not buying the hype.

Based on what tho, because Liam's stuff comes from inside sources, ditto Adam Bolton n Michael McWhertor. And it's not like Microsoft doesn't have a history of this. Your end of the argument is speculation without a base.

wont be the same game.

@fantasygamer said:

Microsoft has also filed an extension for the Scalebound trademark.

Take this one with a huge, fistful of salt, but a new rumor suggests that Microsoft has rebooted Scalebound and that the IP is “still alive,” and that it could continue without Platinum Games’ involvement.

http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/1265181-rumor-scalebound-still-alive-rebooted-microsoft

Filing date is 2014. This could be old. And you renew trademarks to protect the IP, from being copied by another game developer. This does not mean anything really till Microsoft says the game is not dead.

Also on topic: They renewed a trademark people, the rumor is just an assumption based on a trademark renewel, which is actually standard practice. Read the thing people.

A game MS spent millions on and was so bad they saw fit to cancel it? Yeah, I sure hope it's not that same game. lol :P

@jg4xchamp: Way to be a lemon, Scampy! :(

Both Eurogamer and Kotaku described a game stuck in dev hell that may have been more than they could handle. Platinum is not innocent here.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/10/cancelling-scalebound-is-a-huge-blow-for-platinumgames/

those wounds still fresh

They don't need to give their version, because it's already known what happened. Platinum Games couldn't deliver what they promised on time. So after a while Microsoft said stop to pouring money into this bottomless pit.

This is all on Platinum Games.

Really though, maybe this is what the halo people were working on, welp I wouldn't have too much faith but they haven't tried yet so who knows.

I'd certainly be more interested in playing scalebound than halo though.

But wait, seems kind of douche baggy if you think about it since the director from platinum has been wanting to make this game for years.

Yeah, I always knew Platinum screwed up from the gek-go, not MS. Platinum resources was spread too tin, too fast to get it working right on Xbox One. This is all on Platinum Games. If you can't pay rent, yo ass gotta go!

For the longest time, I had no idea Scalebound was getting a lot of attention for those who was looking forward to, I just didn't like how Plat cut out playing as a female Dragon Tamer and I bailed out before it got scrap.

Read what you just said, there isn't a reality in the multiverse where what you just said wasn't blind fanboy dick riding.

"they don't need to provide evidence, they are right cuz I love them"

Would love this if so. Scalebound was my top most wanted Xbone game.

Let's hope something good comes of it. We should all be pumped for good games.

@fantasygamer said:

Microsoft has also filed an extension for the Scalebound trademark.

Take this one with a huge, fistful of salt, but a new rumor suggests that Microsoft has rebooted Scalebound and that the IP is “still alive,” and that it could continue without Platinum Games’ involvement.

http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/1265181-rumor-scalebound-still-alive-rebooted-microsoft

Scalebound is powered by Unreal Engine 4, and MS has Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves and Gears of War 4 and State of Decay 2 are also powered by Unreal Engine 4.

After State of Decay 2 or Sea of Thieves, other teams with UE4 skill set can complete Scalebound.

Difference, his is an editorial based on just the basic report that the game was in development hell, and is going with a theory. It could absolutely be that, I'm not denying that, it's a type of game Kamiya hasn't done before. Neither Kotaku nor Eurogamer actually say it was purely on Platinum either (Kotaku's article is just a basic news story by comparison), just that the game went into development hell.

Again you want to argue Platinum has partial blame here, I got no disagreement there. But this it's all on Platinum and they couldn't handle it approach, and it couldn't also be that Microsoft is way too handsy for their own good, there was all this creative clash, and the company has a questionable track record in how they manage studios on projects is unheard of, is silly n short sighted, and goes against multiple examples n sources that say otherwise. More to it Liam's work has been proven to be credible as his videos on different cancelled projects, games, and how other games have been shaped are genuinely really good, closest thing you'll get to failed projects getting a GDC talk equivalent. And Bolton's posts on contractual issues which were backed by McWhertor fits the billing as well. Both have been working for awhile, and while I'm not the biggest polygon person (they suck), I do think Cnet is genuinely solid as far as their journalist stuff is concerned.

That's not what I said at all. I said that Microsoft didn't need to come out with a statement because it's known that Platinum Games went over budget. That's practically all the statement you needed... Do you want more from Microsoft? It wasn't smart business anymore.

That's not how this works sport. If you're going to argue a report isn't valid, when it's credible mind you, your counteracting argument actually needs to be something credible, not just of course "microsoft was right, about everything".

Gawd some of you are hmm, dunno but logic dictates MS didn't spend all that time and money and cancel a great game just for shits and giggles and or because they thought it would endear themselves to gamers by canceling it, in fact quite the opposite. They bit the bullet and knew they had a stinker on their hands and cut their losses which is what smart bidnesses do from time to time.

Sheeeeesh, no rocket scientist needed on this one boys & girls.!!! lol :P

I concur. I have never, nor will I ever say its all on one or the other. I just do not believe that things are that cut and dry.

Are we really going to re-litigate this?

http://www.gameondaily.com/kamiya-is-pissed-off-at-microsoft-are-they-fucking-with-me/

http://segmentnext.com/2015/07/30/scalebound-director-pissed-at-shits-at-microsoft-that-are-messing-with-him/

A. You don't know what MS was asking from Platinum to do with the game and they are NOTORIOUS for asking for changes during the development cycle.

B. You don't really know what the budget that Platinum was given for the game or whether or not it was adequate for Platinum to meet those demands.

Long story short, none of you Lems run a game development studio. If push comes to shove, you will push on projects you actually can complete and generate revenue from while waiting for your girlfriend to make up her mind where she wants to go tonight. You may want to flavor the narrative one way. I may want to flavor it mine. Just don't get mad at me for challenging the notion that one of gaming's most venerated studios and creators is bad apples for the sake of XBox's already tarnished reputation in that arena.

I think Platinum had too much to chew and also this was a huge project as it was going to be the first major release from a japanese studio on xbox one. Platinum had a lot of games in/around working on Scalebound so i can see them having trouble when multiple projects were going on.

With Scalebound allegedly being rebooted, i'd love to see MS send it out to Insomniac to complete.

Okey dokey

A. you don't know for sure the milestones that Platinum were contracted to meet on a timely fashion either. They weren't doing so.

Ohh Teh MS is messing wif Kamiya? Maybe Kamiya didn't meet an agreed upon milestone again? You got one thing right. NONE OF US TRULY KNOWS. That's why I have maintained it takes two to tango and Platinum must share the blame. PLease Shew, show me where I have blamed it all on Platinum.

When did I say they were bad apples? Its no secret Kamiya has been tempermental. But he's a precious artist, I guess. Give me a break. They are as much to blame for this clusterfuck as MS but all the cows and weabs want to white knight Kamiya.

"a stinker"

The game that was shown was a better game than every game on their 2017 lineup that are releasing.

Yeah but what is shown at E3 in not always representative of the actual game being worked on. See Alien Colonial Marine.