Do you recall Scalebound? It was a game that was announced years ago with the development team PlatinumGames taking charge of creating the title for Microsoft. With development starting back in 2013, the action RPG was slated to be an Xbox One and PC exclusive and there was plenty of hype building behind the title. Unfortunately, the game was cancelled leaving plenty of disappointed fans who were hoping to get a chance to play the game.
There weren’t too many exclusives on the Microsoft Xbox One platform, but there could have been at least one more title added into the limited catalog if they had kept Scalebound afloat. The video game was an action RPG where players took the role of a young man with the aid of a dragon. Unfortunately, the game had some issues keeping on target as in 2017 Microsoft officially cancelled the game. From there, PlatinumGames continued on working on other video game titles like the successful Nier: Automata, Astral Chain, and they are currently working on the anticipated third installment release of Bayonetta. With that said, the development studio still has an interest in going back to work with Scalebound.
At the current moment, PlatinumGames is able to self-publish IPs, however, they can’t just pick back up work on Scalebound. Speaking to Eurogamer, the head of the studio Atsushi Inaba was asked about Scalebound. According to Inaba, it was a game that they would love to go back and develop once again if they are given the opportunity. Unfortunately, because the IP is owned by Microsoft, there’s nothing they can do at the moment with the title.
Really, it comes down to Microsoft allowing the studio to continue crafting up Scalebound though there’s no word on if Microsoft feels the same way about the IP. It seems that both parties were not very fond of the initial development of Scalebound so if this game was to go back into development, it’s likely a title that would have to be greatly overhauled to meet expectations for Microsoft and the team working on the IP.