PlatinumGames Wants to Revive Cancelled Xbox Game Scalebound

Bayonetta development studio PlatinumGames wants to revive Scalebound, the Xbox-exclusive dragon-focused action RPG it worked on from 2013 until its 2017 cancellation.

Platinum president Atsushi Inaba and vice president Hideki Kamiya spoke to IGN Japan for a recent interview, and Inaba mentioned Kamiya remained interested in the game. Kamiya "has been talking about wanting to work on Scalebound again for a while." (H/T IGN).

Kamiya has been vocal about his desire to revive the project in the past, and he re-confirmed his interest in the interview, calling on Xbox boss Phil Spencer to help put the project back on track.

"I'd like to appeal to Phil Spencer directly! Let's do it, Phil!" he said.

"Development had progressed a fair way, and it seems pointless for Microsoft to just hold on to that and not do anything with it."

Inaba added, "Often in an interview you might hear a developer politely saying, 'Yes, if we had the opportunity we'd love to work on that again,' but we don't mean it that way. Both Kamiya and I are serious — we really would love to work on Scalebound again. I'd like to discuss it with Microsoft properly."

What is Scalebound?

Scalebound was to be a third-person action RPG in which players would control the main character and issue orders to their dragon companion. The player character was also part-dragon, allowing them special abilities. It would have shifted PlatinumGames' focus away from the action for which it's best known and toward roleplaying mechanics for the first time.

In the past, Kamiya has apologized to fans for Scalebound's cancellation, and attributed the game's cancellation with Platinum's unfamiliarity with the territory.

"It was a big challenge for PlatinumGames," he said in a 2017 interview with the YouTube channel Cutscenes. "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."

Xbox and Spencer have yet to respond to Platinum's entreaty.