Ideally, reflecting on much of the earlier segments of the Xbox One era is best to be forgotten about – and for good reason. However, some elements from that gap of time still gives players goosebumps of what came and could have been. In that, Insomniac Games shipped Sunset Overdrive which proved to be a diamond in the rough at the time. Following came Scalebound: a project from Bayonetta’s PlatinumGames that never came to fruition.
Previously, the Japanese developer reflected on the title with eagerness to potentially acquire the rights to the game by Microsoft to finish its pursuit. But much like the state of the game, nothing materialized. In a later interview, game director Hideki Kamiya expressed disappointment for the game as it proved to be a dark time for the game studio abandoning the project altogether.
“We were working in an environment we weren’t used to. We were developing on the Unreal engine, we also lacked the necessary know-how to build a game based on online features. The hurdles we had to overcome were very big. We weren’t experienced enough and couldn’t get over that wall, leading to what happened in the end.”
In a recent interview with IGN Japan, it was revealed that both Atsushi Inaba, PlatinumGames CEO, alongside Kamiya are interested to pursue the project despite the outcome of the game nearly half a decade ago, Video Game Chronicles transcribed. “Kamiya has always wanted to do Scalebound. So we’d like to have a proper discussion with Microsoft,” Inaba shared on the topic.
Kamiya injected, “We did a lot of work on it, and it’s no use Microsoft keeping the game in its current form, so we’d like to do something about it (laughs). Phil! Let’s do it together!” While the pair who stand as the main leadership at PlatinumGames remains adamant on the matters to try finishing Scalebound, there is no confirmation if Microsoft has responded to the offer or agreed to resume development.
While the hopes of the game is left in purgatory for the time being, Microsoft could already be occupied with a separate project altogether. In a report from Jeff Grubb’s Grubbsnax podcast, he reveals that Microsoft has hired Certain Affinity to work on a Monster Hunter-like project which could be a catalyst from the canned Scalebound. You can read the full report by heading here.
Do you have hope Scalebound will be revived?
Source: Video Game Chronicles
