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[jelly]

Scalebound was a somewhat applicable match to something like Sony's Horizon, if not nearly as hyped up. What is there to make up for its absence?

Halo 3 Anniversary!

I don't really care but I imagine they could. Microsoft are good at rushing...

Coming Fall 2017

Halo MCC REDUX.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Microsoft are the masters of throwing a huge pile of money onto something only to burn it later.

Though sometimes we get something great like the Zune.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I hope Kamiya gets some time off so he can recover and come back to game development reinvigorated. I feel he's going to radically scale down his ambitions for his next game.

 

[Betty]

Purely hypothetical here

But if Microsoft were responsible in some way for the demise of Platinum could you guys forgive them?

 

[BigPete]

They never, ever gained ground. Why is that difficult to understand?

As for the box itself, I don't think the cancellation of this game will change much with regard to sales. Whatever it sells in the coming months and year will not be because of this game's cancellation. I don't think its existence/nonexistence will have any noticeable influence on the Xbox One's sales.

Fair enough. Mindshare and Marketshare are two completely different things. When I say MS was turning it around, I was mostly referring to righting the wrongs of the initial announcement. They became more focused on gaming, dropped the media center focus, improved the controller, offered an elite controller, improved the software and overall experience. When the OneS was announced it was framed by the media as "Microsoft finally gets it" and "This is the turning point for MS' recovery". Hype was created.

But as you say, PS4 dominated the holiday sales. Never lost any ground (In fact, pulled away further) and that isn't changing. The cancellation of this game is not going to make a difference in the end, but it is still more bad new for a brand that didn't need the negative publicity at all.

 

[Not Drake]

I blame long hype cycles and while everyone is guilty of this, Microsoft seems to be the biggest offender. At this point I don't believe their announcements one bit.

 

[darkwing-buck]

Man that sucks. At least we still have Nier to look forward to.

 

[PantsuJo]

I hoped to play this on PC.

Sad news

 

[Menitta]

This is familiar. Early January 2016, Scalebound was delayed to 2017. Now look at us.

 

[TheKastorian]

Well, there it is. Despite the game not looking like it was in great shape I still feel sorry for the team.

 

[BRocknRolla]

Ack, that MS PR response.

I know it's just pretty much a canned reply, but listing out their 2017 lineup just really make this cancellation look all the worse.

 

[LordKano]

Microsoft's E3 2017 will be very interesting...

 

[Crossing Eden]

Sure, but TLG ran so bad that the PS3 footage had to be speed up. It was that bad.

Yeah, the project wasn't as expensive but Sony had faith on it for 10 years...

I meant they didn't resume funding and several key people left the studio while the game became vaporware until PS4 hardware showed up and they realized the game could feasibly run and wouldn't be super expensive to finish. It's an extremely rare case, for an example of what typically happens to games that have been in development for a fuckton of time, see the development of Homefront The Revolution.

 

[Anung]

Do you guys expect sad faces and tears from MS statement? It gets to the point and states the truth. MS lost a lot of money and it's not their fault that platinum didn't deliver.

"heartless statement" lol.

We're talking about video games, not funerals.

I'd at least expect them to not treat their cancellation announcement for an incredibly anticipated game like an advertisement for other games.

"We've got a game for people who don't get Scalebound, it's called Halo Wars 2"

 

[RampagingSoul]

Pretty much what I expected far as the PR statement from Microsoft goes. Sucks for Kamiya and Platinum and I hope that they get better with how taxing of a project Scalebound seemed to be.

 

[Psychoward]

Aww man but that Transformers game really was good though. Loved it.

It was pretty good, I just hated the RPG elements.

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

I can't believe people are still discussing JRPGs on Xbox, during the year 2017, with the PS4 having the success it has.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Bring back Mattrick, I'm sure he must get it now. But seriously Spencer been fucking up since he got in charge, whatever measures he took at the beginning were just quick patches. Two years after and there's zero good investment for the future while Sony is bringing back old ips, making a killing with their current ones and every major conference there's something new to look forward to.
I didn't get the pro because I want the Scorpio but if MS's E3 is gonna be 4k, 4k, 4k, halo 6 teaser and oculus then forget about it...

 

[Psyrgery ES]

Scorpio is looking less and less appealing... To me, at least, and i've been an Xbox guy for a long time...

Sad day for PG and Kamiya, hope their future projects will do better.

What the heck, Ms.

 

[Proelite]

Nature of the business. Budget leash across MS and Xbox is getting tighter and tighter.

If a risk is losing money without a good outlook for making it back, it'll be shuttered.

Expect that to be applied to Xbox overall if the trend continues. Halo, Gears etc will end up on other platforms and will outlive Xbox.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Oh no 😥😥😥

I really hope Kamiya pulls through...mental issues is no joke, seriously. This really does suck for Microsoft but it's not 100% their fault. I really do believe that they wanted something special out of this and they tried their best. Whatever the case is, I hope for the best for the team and Kamiya. This is sad af 😥

 

[vg260]

MS did just seriously plug their shit while announcing the game is officially canceled? Wow....

What else would you expect in a PR statement? A huge press release about how poorly development went and all the things that went wrong, or a quick confirmation that tries to minimize the doom and gloom?

 

[Creamium]

That's one ruthless statement. "Scalebound is cancelled, but who cares, please divert your attention to whatever we have left".

 

[GabeTheGrouch76]

I'm so much happier now that I'm dead. Technically missing. Soon to be presumed dead. Gone.

And this lazy oblivious and incompetent "Microsoft" company will go to prison for my murder. They took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money. They took and took from me until I no longer existed. That's murder. Let the punishment fit the crime. To fake a convincing release date for Scale-fucking-bound you have to have discipline. You befriend a local foold, Platinum Games. Harvest the details of his hundrum life and cram him with stories about how development will be "doing fine", how the the game will soon be playable from start to finish. Secretly create some money troubles: forced online co-op, micotransactions, western bullshit. With the help of the unwitting, you bump up your life insurance. Purchase the Xbox One. With the Elite Controller. Generic. Overpriced. Pay cash. You need to package yourself so that people will truly mourn your loss. And I don't know how much you know about Japan, but they truly believe in honor, it's an important part of their culture... You know what's hard? Faking your excitement for this game. First, you pretend to follow all the dishearting news about this trainwerk of a game. Watch every damn E3 showing. From the first CGi vaporware trailer. Wake up at fucking 3.a.m, June 2016 just to see how this game has been resorted to a How To Train a Flying Potato simulator. Then you steal a Recore copy. And you pretend to like it. Voila! The game is nothing like you wanted. You wasted 60 dollars. Happy 3th Anniversary of this game's announcement. But then you go on NeoGAF, and post "wow I loved the E3 demo, MS is doing a great job " while you dry off the tears running down your face. Wait for the clueless director to announce the release date. Off he goes... and the clock is ticking. 20 weeks away from the release day and they haven't even shown final console footage yet. You feel fisically ill. A lot. A lot. A lot. You start to post about how the game is likely being saved for Scorpio How the game still retains that Hideki Kamiya-sama magic, even though you know deep in yourself that's one hell of a lie. June. E3 starts and they fucking bring a broken demo on stage. "Well, Platinum has never made a bad game, so there's no reason not to trust them". I repeat to myself. But everyone else playing the demo booths agrees that it is just bad. And because you're you, you don't stop there. You go back. To the day this fucking game was announced. Start with the fairy-tale days. The biggest Xbox One exclusive. A system seller title. From the creator of Resident Evil 2 and Bayonetta. Those are true. After that, you invent. "Scalebound was supposed to relive the Xbox brand" "X1 would likely outsell PS4 when this game gets released... at least in the US" The spending, the abuse, the fear, the threat of violence... burn it, just the right amount. Make sure the fans will find it. Finally, honor tradition with a very special treasure hunt. And if I get everything right, the world will hate Microsoft for killing his beautiful, legacy franchise. And after all the outrage, when I'm ready, I'll go out on to GameStop and buy a Playstation 4 + NieR: Automata bundle. And when my mother finds me investing my precious time trying to bond with this hot anime girl, I'll look straight into her eyes and say "but have you looked at her butt? Have your really looked at her butt?" In that very moment, she knows. She fucking knows. As she handles me the nugget pieces she previously cooked for me, she leaves my room with these words: "NierR is the true savior of Platinum Games". And that's when the people will know, Microsoft dumped Scalebound like garbage, and it floated past all the other abused, unwanted, inconvenient titles like Phantom Dust and Fable: Legends. The Scalebound fans will be gone, but then... we never really existed. We loved a game we pretended to like.

"An Xbox One exclusive".

Gamers always use that, don't they? As their defining compliment: "Quantum Break is a true Xbox exclusive". A true Xbox One exclusive is hot. A true Xbox One exclusive is game. A true Xbox One exclusive is fun. A true Xbox One exclusive never makes its fans angry. It only smiles in a chagrined, loving manner. The Platinum Game fans like what they like, so evidently they're vinyl hipsters who loves fetish Manga. If they like girls gone wild, Claire Redfield was a good example of empowering woman design. Bayonetta is sexist trash.. When I met Phil Spencer I knew he wanted "true Xbox Exclusive experience". And for him, I'll admit: Scalebound truly was it. He created an empty development funded by vapor and nothingness. Microsoft rewrote the concept to fit those Sony esclusive games everyone loves. They put headphones into the game because we all love headphones. They showed the game, semi-regularly. I lived in the moment. The same dragon portion for three years. I was fuckinging game. I can't say I didn't enjoy some of it. Microsoft teased out in me things I didn't know existed. A lightness, a humor, an ease. But I made them smarter. Sharper. I inspired them to rise to my level. I forged the company of my dreams. We were happy pretending to be other people. We were the happiest couple we knew. And what's the point of being together if you're not the happiest? But Platinum got lazy and Microsoft stubborn. They delayed the game. Microsoft actually expected me to love support their Xbox console unconditionally. And before finishing with Platinum, they delayed the game another time. From Holiday 2016, to simply "2017". We knew it was coming. We knew that what the press sneaks were telling us, was true.

You think I'd let Microsoft destroy me and end up happier than ever?

No fucking way.

They don't get to win. I don't know how much the rest of you know about social culture (I'm an expert), but grown-ups work for things. Grown-ups pay.

Grown-ups suffer consequences.

Reading this was an experience, but I don't know what this is parodying

 

[Servbot24]

What needs to be done to get Nintendo to save it??

Why would Nintendo want it? Seems like a poor use of money.

 

[Streaks]

The game was always a hard sell. I have a little crew of friends I've played Xbox with for the last decade and I was the only one in the group of 5 that had any interest at all in the game. I know for a fact none of my other Xbox friends had it on it's radar, either. It'd probably end up doing worse than Quantum Break unfortunately.

With that said, it's still sad to read about the fallout to everything with Kamiya.

 

[disappeared]

So people don't have to agree with me but since there's so much discussion about it, I think it's plainly clear that Scorpio is an attempt to lock in people into the Live ecosystem that would otherwise float to PS4 or PC (where they wouldn't pay for Xbox live). I think it's about service fees and not first party games. I guess we will see but I don't think first party games are the point.

I'm beginning to think you could be on to something.

 

[ShadowgeistX]

Damn, that kinda sucks. I was gonna buy an Xbox One for this game. Was actually keeping a lookout for good deals on one. Now not so much. I guess it's good for my wallet?

 

[Stilton Disco]

It's a big blow to the Xbox line up. Honestly there's a serious lack of single player story driven games. Well, exclusive ones at least. Everything is literally MP focused. Forza 7, State of Decay, Sea of Thieves, Crackdown...(and I've heard Crackdown isn't going too hot either, though nothing as bad as this).

Unless they have a bunch of first party studios secretly tucked away somewhere (which they don't that I know of), I genuinely struggle to think of what surprises they could have at E3 *as of right now*. Halo 6 is to be expected, and I don't see publishers playing ball much anymore with 3rd party exclusives unless Microsoft gives the Xbox division a huge budget to throw cash around, which I highly doubt. Their major first party IP are on a decline with Halo doing less than before and Gears 4 not selling that well at all relatively speaking (not good enough to sustain a huge studio with that many workers and budget).

What's happening now is the exact opposite of what Xbox fans seemed to want out of a Phil spencer leadership.

I remember when he became head of Xbox and everyone was saying how there'll be tons of new games, but they're still coasting on announcements from 2013-2014 and in that time, games have been cancelled, multiple studios closed including Lionhead...

As a big Xbox fan since day one, I'm not very hopeful for the future. Scorpio won't do anything without software to push it heavily.

Yeah, this really feels like the wheels have suddenly come off the whole Xbox juggernaut here, and the what hope I had for the Scorpio signalling a resurgence of Microsoft's first party output seems like a pipe dream.

Hell, I'm beginning to wonderful if there is any real stratergy behind Scorpio at all. Maybe it's not a weird combination of the companies wider hardware push and R&D already spent before the divisions budget got slashed leaving as with a powerful, flagship system with barely any games to truly justify its existence.

 

[Celine]

Didn't look great but the problem is that MS has a weak first party lineup this gen with a few exceptions.

 

[oti]

Scalebound is trending worldwide.

 

[brinstar]

Man, this is a bummer. I was really looking forward to this despite how rough it looked and I'm not even an Xbox owner.

 

[Button]

Always looked like a shitty game.

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm so much happier now that I'm dead. Technically missing. Soon to be presumed dead. Gone.

I like it

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

Sucks for those who put lots of blood, sweat, and tears into it and for players to lose something they were looking forward to eventually playing.

In any case, all you can do is hope there's more already in the cupboard (or coming to the cupboard) that appeals to you.

 

[Dark_3nergy]

Scalebound was literally the only reason I was considering to buy an Xbox One/Scorpio at some point.

Shocked to say the least.

I was in that same boat as well.

I am saddend by this news and I hope Platnium will be OK.

 

[Adaren]

Microsoft x Kamiya

A match made in Hell.

 

[Betty]

If it happens consistently, do you think it might be related to factors other than luck and maybe has more to do with Microsoft's demands and project management? The Phantom Dust exposé revealed that they make a lot of demands that aren't necessarily reasonable.

Oh I see the pattern, I just didn't want to get banned for saying so.

 

[El_Chino]

Let's be honest to ourselves, the game looked like a mess for a while.

Now whether that's Platinum's fault or Microsoft's we'll probably never know.

 

[brad-t]

So people don't have to agree with me but since there's so much discussion about it, I think it's plainly clear that Scorpio is an attempt to lock in people into the Live ecosystem that would otherwise float to PS4 or PC (where they wouldn't pay for Xbox live). I think it's about service fees and not first party games. I guess we will see but I don't think first party games are the point.

I don't really get how that's going to work if those games are also available on PS4 and PC. Lock-in from existing titles isn't going to be enough to get most people to double-down on Scorpio (if it ever actually materializes — wouldn't be surprised if it's vaporware). It's not like Scorpio was supposed to be affordable, either.

 

[NegativeCero]

Putting this in screencap form so it doesn't go unnoticed (source is a Persona Central writer)

Saddening news if this is true.

I'm sure it's draining to be at the helm of a project like this and it not working out. I hope he bounces back after taking that break.

 

[IDontBeatGames]

Microsoft's E3 2017 will be very interesting...

That's if all of it doesn't get leaked like their 2016 conference was. I mean, if I remember correctly, the whole list of announcements was out like two-three days before except like one surprise.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Ah yes, the stellar Legend of Korra, Star Fox Zero, and TMNT Mutants in Manhattan. Of course.

Star Fox Zero's fundamental problems were all on the Nintendo side of things. Shikamaru Ninja did a breakdown when it came out and Platinum's responsibility was mainly the art and music. All the programming and game design was Nintendo.

 

[Milly Osworth]

Purely hypothetical here

But if Microsoft were responsible in some way for the demise of Platinum could you guys forgive them?

Uhhh, Im pretty sure PG is responsibly for their own actions.

 

[Anung]

Purely hypothetical here

But if Microsoft were responsible in some way for the demise of Platinum could you guys forgive them?

I never forgave them for killing Halo >_>

 

[Gaspard]

Wow this was my biggest motivation to get an Xbox One when it was announced.

I am really disappointed.

 

[TharpDaddy]

So with that gone, are there any Japanese-developed Xbox One exclusives left?

That only further cements me never buying an Xbox One.

Lost Odyssey 2 at E3 #believe. The free copies of the game was marketing.

 

[Obliterator]

So people don't have to agree with me but since there's so much discussion about it, I think it's plainly clear that Scorpio is an attempt to lock in people into the Live ecosystem that would otherwise float to PS4 or PC (where they wouldn't pay for Xbox live). I think it's about service fees and not first party games. I guess we will see but I don't think first party games are the point.

100%.

MS is trying to turn their entire ecosystem into service based including their games.

I would expect very few single player focused games moving forward coming from MS.

 

[xviper]

they cancelled the only interesting exclusive they had in 2017, well done Microsoft, just go ahead and announce that this is the last generation of Xbox

 

[Neonep]

This truly sucks, hopefully Platinum can stay afloat.