The anticipated Xbox exclusive Scalebound was canceled three years ago, but developer PlatinumGames stated that the studio would love to finish the project if they found the opportunity. Scalebound was canceled in January 2017 after it suffered some development issues. Following the game's cancellation, Microsoft received a lot of criticism from the community, but according to PlatinumGames, Microsoft was not the only party that deserved all the blame.
"Watching fans getting angry at Microsoft over the cancellation wasn’t easy for us to watch," PlantinumGames' studio head, Atsushi Inaba said in an interview with VGC. “Because the reality is, when any game in development can’t get released, it’s because both sides failed. I think there are areas where we could’ve done better and I’m sure there are areas that Microsoft as a publishing partner wish that they could’ve done better. Because nobody wants a game to be canceled.”
Three years after the sad news, PlantinumGames announced its recent partnership with Tencent to fund new projects. The Japanese publisher claims that it wants to develop and publish its own IPs across multiple platforms in the upcoming years.
With new goals and visions in mind, Inaba was asked about Scalebound. Inaba replied that the Scalebound IP is currently owned by Microsoft and there isn't much the studio can do at this point.
"Again, it's a good question! But this was an intellectual property that belongs 100% to Microsoft," Inaba said in a different interview with Eurogamer Portugal. "Whatever happens with this project, we can't really do anything with it unless Microsoft leaves us. But it's a game that we fall in love with and love. If the opportunity arises, it's something we would love to return to."
Scalebound was first announced during Microsoft's 2014 E3 presentation. The game was slated to release in 2016, but was delayed until 2017 and eventually canceled.
