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Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
PG are great devs.

I actually pre-ordered NieR Automata ,but the signs were on the wall for Scalebound.It always looked really rough.

Microsoft should've let Kamiya & Platinum do what they're good at instead of demanding them to step into unknown territory to satisfy a ridiculous open world standard.
Back when scalebound was announced there was no open world standard compared to today. And Platinum wanted to make an open world game. Even back when this was a wii game it was outside of Platinum's element and the player character was a little girl who would only watch Dragons fight each other instead of being directly involved, now does that sound like typical Platinum to you?
 

Minions

Member
Survive what? MS funded this game, not Platinum.

And now you have 100 idle workers that were previously working on scalebound doing nothing. If they don't find a project quickly then they have to lay people off.

It also is possible they stopped receiving payments when they missed milestones.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
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...

To be honest it seemed like sony was trying to quietly cancel it for years but people kept asking and asking for it, to the point that the main developer even got sick of it, and then sony brought in one of their other studios to help make it functional.
 

spons

Gold Member
That just makes Microsoft's meaningless "blockbuster game line-up" phrase even more pathetic with so little games on the horizon.

I really don't understand the vision Microsoft has for the Xbox One. Some kind of family do-it-all box with Blu-ray movies, 4k streaming and a couple of games on the side?
 

Shiggy

Member
The game didn't seem to perform particularly well and certainly wasn't suitable for the Xbox audience. From a business standpoint, the decision is reasonable, especially after Microsoft's other niche efforts were all commercial failures. With corporate pressures rising due to the underperformance of the Xbox business, it's no surprise that they have been heavily downsizing internal development over the past few years.

Scorpio is still getting 1st party games. It's just that those will be Halo, Gears of War, and Scorpio, paired with some smaller titles by Rare maybe. If Sea of Thieves flops, we all know what will happen to Rare though.
 
As a new Xbox owner.. This is disappointing. I was skeptical Platinum could pull it off.. They are vrry hit or miss... And the misses are real stinkers.
 

Sizzel

Member
Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkk - I hope this was a joke thread.

Literally one of the very few games I genuinely looking forward to and "hoped" could be sweet and a new IP. but sure lets stack on a shit ton more sequels.

I am not so much bummed that it isn;t coming out as that is was presumably so bad/troubled that they decided to reallocate resources rather than continue on due to projected ROI.
 

graybot

Member
To further expand on this, we own Cuphead. In essence, the game "can't" be cancelled unless we choose to. And we're not cancelling it.

On topic, I really wanted to play Scalebound. I am sad.

That's good to hear
Will Cuphead be always a console exclusive?
 

cakely

Member
That's how these things tend to work. A lot of the people making this thread so large, I'm certain, mostly didn't care about the game because it wasn't on their preferred platform.

There are 3 groups.

1 - some are deliberately feigning interest and want to use the cancellation of the game as a means of attacking Microsoft

2 - some others just have an interest due to the developer and the simple newsworthiness of this kind of cancellation.

3 - while the remaining, who are a bit of an extension of the 2nd group, fairly look at the implications of this, and become concerned about the seeming thinning out of major releases for Xbox coming from Microsoft themselves.

I believe the first group, sadly, greatly outnumbers groups 2 and 3 in this thread. Groups 2 and 3 are among those that would have likely been open to supporting this game if it ended up looking really good when all was said and done. That aside, Microsoft have always demonstrated in the release of major new consoles, like what's coming with Scorpio, that they are willing to make the big investment into releasing good games to compliment those releases.

You're saying that most people in this thread are posting here to attack Microsoft.

It sounds like you have a persecution complex.
 

krioto

Member
That's how these things tend to work. A lot of the people making this thread so large, I'm certain, mostly didn't care about the game because it wasn't on their preferred platform.

There are 3 groups.

1 - some are deliberately feigning interest and want to use the cancellation of the game as a means of attacking Microsoft

2 - some others just have an interest due to the developer and the simple newsworthiness of this kind of cancellation.

3 - while the remaining, who are a bit of an extension of the 2nd group, fairly look at the implications of this, and become concerned about the seeming thinning out of major releases for Xbox coming from Microsoft themselves.

I believe the first group, sadly, greatly outnumbers groups 2 and 3 in this thread. Groups 2 and 3 are among those that would have likely been open to supporting this game if it ended up looking really good when all was said and done. That aside, Microsoft have always demonstrated in the release of major new consoles, like what's coming with Scorpio, that they are willing to make the big investment into releasing good games to compliment those releases.

Just because you're paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you....
 

bidguy

Banned
That's good to hear
Will Cuphead be always a console exclusive?

giphy.gif
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
This is such a shame :( always thought it looked like it had a lot of potential but had some rough showings. Was hoping they could pull it together.
 

Ricker

Member
Damn,one of the reasons I bought a X1...it looked rough but I was willing to give them all the time in the world to finish it...the open world land combat gameplay looked better last we saw then the Boss battle from a few years back...oh well.
 
They will likely shift those people to the Granblue Fantasy Project they have coming up for now, until they get contracted again.

Scaleboud was by far their biggest current contract, and I don't think those games will provide the sort of incoming revenue a contract for a major exclusive IP will bring in.

If Platinum come through this without layoffs, it will be almost unheard of in the entire industry
 
Any real possibility Microsoft have a ton of unannounced projects waiting to be announced this year or...?

Not their style.

They probably have the usual suspects. A new Halo, a new Forza. Games they know will pay for their development plus some.

Probably a timed 3rd party exclusive here or there.

I wouldn't blame them for playing it conservative at this point. They got burned by Scalebound, burned by Recore, etc.

Maybe some kind of Oculus partnership for the Scorpio?
 
Xenoblade? That's a 100% Nintendo IP. They own Monolith Soft.
Yeah but Tetsuya Takahashi is the creator of all the games. And while Blade was named to pay homage to his other Xenogames and no matter what he says or doesn't say, there will always be the tiny bit of people in his fanbase that believe he's still trying to implement some kind of themes or hints of themes that never got to materialize in his original scheme and picture of Gears.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
My take on all this, and I've been seeing this for a while, is that Microsoft is transitioning all their games to the 'live service' model.

Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
Basically Microsoft want to have their games emulate what Minecraft has been able to do.
Long lifecycle, large user base, Increased spend.

Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
Microsoft's future direction is about being able to offer the Xbox games and live services on multiple devices that run Windows 10.
Everything about this right here, sadly.
 

KingBroly

Banned
Do people realize that the Scorpio is still an Xbox One??

The problem is that Scorpio right now simply can't be a shot in the arm. The brand is doomed if that is all it is. Because as of right now, the brand is looking extremely shaky in terms of first party support and dwindling Japanese third party support, which has always been a major struggle for them.
 

farisr

Member
I've never seen so much angst over the cancellation of a game that demoed like shit multiple times...

Is it a Japanese game thing?
the first demo aside from framerate issues was fine. Showed promise. The second demo was bad, but FFXV showed bad before (or was it after?) it as well so it kind of dampened the impact. There was some footage released in between (like the final fantasy active time reports) that made it look promising as well, and on top of that MS pushed this as an important exclusive time and time again.
 
Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
Basically Microsoft want to have their games emulate what Minecraft has been able to do.
Long lifecycle, large user base, Increased spend.
.

This would explain why games like QB, Sunset Overdrive or Recore which barely met sales expectations or underperformed will never get a second chance from MS.

MS is basically big whale hunting, they are looking for a new MineCraft. And if they catch a young one they have no patience to give it some time to develop. Just imagine Uncharted 1 would have been launched in such a taintend environment (let alone developers having to work under these conditions).
 

urge26

Member
This is only going to become more and more common, I fear. Valve's already made this move, too.

Direction makes sense to some. Triple A development is too expensive, and some people like myself have been living in the eco-space of one game (example being Destiny). I'm not buying all the big titles that I used too (especially knowing if I just wait 6 months I can purchase them for next to nothing and then just throw them in the backlog).

The wave seems to be moving in a direction of creating a game that either is a huge competitive hit, or one that is able to plant themselves in the Twitch directory and is able to make mounds of money in small transactions.
 
This was by far their biggest project. Automata is essentially done at this point and this cancellation seems to have been a surprise. Their remaining projects, Granblue and Lost Order, aren't anywhere near big enough to compensate for this.

I suppose the hope is that they are making something for Switch for Nintendo. Only time will tell though. They should also give Sony a shot (help with engines and development support from Sony Japan studios, just like what Nintendo do). Wish them the best of luck either way whatever they decide.
 
Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
My take on all this, and I've been seeing this for a while, is that Microsoft is transitioning all their games to the 'live service' model.

Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
Basically Microsoft want to have their games emulate what Minecraft has been able to do.
Long lifecycle, large user base, Increased spend.

Daniel Ahmad ‏@ZhugeEX
Microsoft's future direction is about being able to offer the Xbox games and live services on multiple devices that run Windows 10.

Games a service model. No thanks. Sony have been trying that as well (Driveclub being the first major one, I guess) and I don't particularly care for the model.

Of course people cared about Scalebound. Every time the game was shown and brought up the threads here were pretty active. I don't think it was just a vocal minority (even though all of GAF is just that really) but a fair few people.

My hope lies in them reusing ideas and assets for a different game. Hey, if they can reuse Nightmare Before Christmas for DMC4/Bayonetta (yeah, I'm talking about that thread!) then why not this, ha!
 

yuraya

Member
Looks like the HaloGearsForza formula takes down another victim. Its really sad how they are able to release so many of those games in the past 15 years but games like Fable and Scalebound get gutted in the middle of development in a new generation. Its hard to get excited for anything MS does anymore.
 

CCIE

Banned
This is my problem with MS. They have no variety in their lineup, and can any project that doesn't look like it is going to sell well - even WAY down the development cycle. They take no risks at all, and just rehash more and more every time I turn around

And the developers have noticed. All of the JRPG's are skipping MS with the exception of FF (newest one only, and probably short-lived as well). Basically the entire lineup is shooting, racing, or such type of games. No creativity in any of the AAA projects, with the exception of Sea of Thieves. But I honestly expect that to be canned as well at this point.

No innovation. No creativity. Fewer games that bomb to be certain, but no exclusives. Sony doesn't always get it right, but at least they try, and for that I have to give them my money. And the lineup is more varied. Secretly, I'm still rooting for Nintendo to return from the ashes...


XB1 is no more than a W10 store front at this point... so I don't see much hope for Scorpio either. The games will be pretty, but just more of the same as well.
 
Survive what? MS funded this game, not Platinum.

Some companies use the funds they receive by their clients, not only to pay their employees, but to pay debts, invest in other ventures or projects, and so on.. We don't know how much money they received from MS, or how important it was for PG so they could continue hiring people for more projects, so this "loss" could be critical for them, but again.. we don't know
 

Manu

Member
People who think the game is coming out on Scorpio are in for a rude awakening.

Or not, because they're delusional.
 
That lineup that Microsoft touts in their PR statement doesn't seem like enough. Nor does it make it sound like the Scorpio is going to come out with the fully loaded canon I wanted for it. I sure hope E3 blows me away.
 
There was literally no way this game wasn't going to be the bomba of all bombas but it's a shame to those looking forward to it and fans of platinum.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
That's how these things tend to work. A lot of the people making this thread so large, I'm certain, mostly didn't care about the game because it wasn't on their preferred platform.

There are 3 groups.

1 - some are deliberately feigning interest and want to use the cancellation of the game as a means of attacking Microsoft

2 - some others just have an interest due to the developer and the simple newsworthiness of this kind of cancellation.

3 - while the remaining, who are a bit of an extension of the 2nd group, fairly look at the implications of this, and become concerned about the seeming thinning out of major releases for Xbox coming from Microsoft themselves.

I believe the first group, sadly, greatly outnumbers groups 2 and 3 in this thread. Groups 2 and 3 are among those that would have likely been open to supporting this game if it ended up looking really good when all was said and done. That aside, Microsoft have always demonstrated in the release of major new consoles, like what's coming with Scorpio, that they are willing to make the big investment into releasing good games to compliment those releases.

In what group would you classify me, Senjutsu?

Cut it out with this melodramatic, insecure bullshit. The thread is huge because it's huge news whether you like it or not. Plus, the discussion is going in a completely new direction about potential big changes in the development priorities of Microsoft which is corroborated by insiders and developers in this very thread. I think that's extremely interesting and rather newsworthy, if not kinda concerning.

If you don't think that's worthy of discussion, then don't participate. But don't come here peddling your persecution complex and instead actively participate for once. What do you think about the trajectory Xbox is heading down over the last years?

Be the change you want to see in others.
 
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