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[LegalEagleMike]

Nope, not at all. Means the initial funder was looking to recoup costs & still get it out despite its troubles. Speaks more to Xbox division's budget woes. If it just needed some more time & the budget was on point, I imagine they'd have just funded it & got it out in order to save face.

The game was shopped around to other publishers before it was presented to Microsoft who then backed it but only if they could own the IP.

 

[weekev]

Switch exclusive incoming?

 

[AstroNut325]

This is sad news. I hope MS fosters growth and investment into their own first party studios.

 

[Sesha]

Loving everyone rushing to blame MS and not the studio that is better known for making shitty licensed games or bombas that 4 people bought on Wii U.

The entire sum of people who think P* ate a good studio seem to be located on GAF

Activision is the company known for making shitty licensed games, the company Platinum was hired to develop for. This is you displaying your dislike of Platinum and only that.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

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

Saddening news if this is true.

Damn.

The game never looked particularly good, but this guy is one of the great action game designers of our time. Hopefully he makes it through.

 

[fluffydelusions]

How fucking hilarious would it be if Nintendo picked up the funding for Scalebound and made it Switch exclusive? Lol. Meltdowns galore.

Pretty sure it doesn't work like that....

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

dragonzdogma's ban is a huge win for gaf TBH

Good, didn't even notice he was banned when I quoted him. Hate seeing posts like that, I waste no time adding people to my ignore list when such nonsense is posted.

 

[FelipeMGM]

How fucking hilarious would it be if Nintendo picked up the funding for Scalebound and made it Switch exclusive? Lol. Meltdowns galore.

I dont think thats possible since MS prob owns everything related to the game

IDK about meltdowns if it happened tho, people that wanted that game would prob be happy

 

[Crossing Eden]

But Sony saw games like The Last Guardian through to its end.

If TLG wasn't ever announced for PS3, (remember that it was running so poorly on PS3 hardware that they literally had to speed up the trailer to make it look like it was running fine), they would've cancelled it behind the scenes. TLG is an extremely rare case not just for Sony but for the industry as a whole.

 

[Pathfinder]

Crackdown 3 might be next on the chopping block.

Source?

 

[robotrock]

just preordered nier

 

[TeamGizzy]

If Scalebound goes to the Ouya I will be pissssssed

 

[JaggedSac]

Yikes

 

[orthodoxy1095]

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

Saddening news if this is true.

Very sad if that ends up being the truth.

At the risk of sounding too crass in the light of that claim, this is another game that someday I'd really love to have a post-mortem on. Everything about it, the MS deal, the game ballooning to such a remarkable size, the poor showings was just fascinating to see at the time. I'd love to know more about how it all went down.

 

[Dynomutt]

More information from EuroGamer. Curious to know what happened game looked pretty far into development...

Edit: Get well soon Kamiya!

 

[DJSebolski]

How fucking hilarious would it be if Nintendo picked up the funding for Scalebound and made it Switch exclusive? Lol. Meltdowns galore.

IP belongs to Microsoft.

http://www.trademarkia.com/scalebound-86458061.html

 

[prwxv3]

But Sony saw games like The Last Guardian through to its end.

TLG budget was most likey a drop in a bucket compared to what scale bound had.

 

[alr1ght]

The game has looked bad, but I don't want to live in a world without Platinum Games. Hopefully they can secure another contract ASAP.

 

[Vampirolol]

Microsoft has no luck when it comes to branching out with different developers.

I mean, can we call it bad luck now? It's a pretty bad track record.

Dunno why you're thanking me I just sick burned you

I was thanking you for letting me know that I was looking like a mod wannabe, wich wasn't my intention. Very good "sick burn" btw, I'm literally crying and the whole thread is clapping.

 

[jelly]

Pity, it looked bad in every showing unfortunately though. Guess they gave it all the time and money and saw no turn around.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Microsoft statement incoming in the next few minutes.

 

[pswii60]

What is it with Microsoft and first party? We've been here before.

 

[Intel_89]

So TMNT Manhattan whatever came to be and Scalebound got shafted, huh?

 

[Suzushiiro]

I imagine this will be an issue for Platinum.

1.) They have over 200 staff, presumably at least half of which were making Scalebound.
2.) Nier Automata is about to go gold, and Yoko Taro makes it sound like it's not going into sequel mode right away.
3.) Activision killed off their licensed game division, so that's not an option anymore.
4.) They have the Gran Blue Fantasy project and Lost Order, but I'm assuming that was going to take on Nier's staff given Kamiya wasn't attached to it.

Now they need to get a project from someone on a short turnaround for a ton of staff in an era where that kind of thing is pretty hard to do, and they were struggling to get contracts even when that was less true.

I could see Sony being interested- moneyhatting relatively niche games seems to be their thing lately (see also: Bloodborne, SFV.) I'm honestly kinda surprised they haven't done that already (or maybe they have?)

 

[Rymuth]

I never heard these claims of unreasonable demands. Do we know what they supposedly were?

For Scalebound or Phantom Dust?

If you mean Phantom Dust, originally it was a multiplayer only game then they asked them to turn it into a 30 hour JRPG whilst still keeping the same budget.

Phantom Dust dev collapsed under Microsoft's demands

 

[Gloam]

True Fantasy Live Online Part 2...

 

[MarkusRJR]

Wow fuck this. Literally the only game I'm interested in on the future Xbox software line-up. Seeing all these awesome looking exclusive games coming to PS4 and now without Scalebound there's nothing interesting on the horizon. MS better have an insane lineup of announcements at E3 because their current games line-up is so uninteresting.

Really wish I bought a PS4 instead... :/

 

[Gnome Scat]

Great, one less exclusive for Xbox. And this one was looking good, too.

 

[Chris Metal]

Always disappointing news when a game gets cancelled, someone somewhere is usually looking forward to the title. Not to mention the dev time and work involved.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

But Sony saw games like The Last Guardian through to its end.

Okay. That's not at all the point I was trying to make though. And Sony has cancelled games as well. If something isn't working it isn't working, and if a company doesn't feel they can make money they will cut their losses. MS felt this way about Scalebound, Sony obviously felt differently about TLG. The situations don't have to be 1:1

. Sony is producing less internal software than they did in generation's past, at least at the AAA level. I'm not saying it's a bad/good thing. It's just the nature of the games industry in 2016/17. MS is doing the same, though seemingly more dramatically. It could be that they have determined that being a huge gaming development company is not where they can maximize profits, and are attempting to shift towards more of software service company (using select first party offerings to try and entice people to come to Xbox/Windows over Steam or Playstation, where they will play their third party games)

 

[guek]

Would another publisher be able to pick up the pieces of this? Nintendo did it with Bayonetta 2. Would Microsoft be able to block a direct competitor from using something they were directly involved with?

Really depends on whether or not MS owns the code and IP

 

[x-Lundz-x]

Based on what? You have information? Or just wishful thinking?

TBH we have seen nothing of this game for quite some time.

 

[Forearm Star]

That's pretty sad. I was actually looking forward to this.
Not really sure whats on the way for the xbox that i'm interested in, besides crackdown.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

Do you ever see much high budget experimental AAA brand new IP's from Nintendo as much as MS/Sony? No.

Very few and and nothing risky and playing it safe with doing it based on current characters etc and nowhere near as high budget

Platinum is famous for making "high budget looking" mid budget games. I don't think Scalebound is high budget. Has been reported that production costs for Bayo1 had been very low and Bayo2 budget had been much bigger. Nintendo funded Wonderful 101, that has reportedly a higher budget than Bayo1 too. Nintendo funded several mid budget games in recent years from new IPs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Devil's Third to the Fatal Frame series.

I think someone at MS figured the Scalebound simply does not fit to the consoles audience.

 

[Keasar]

Fucking hell, even though I was reserved for the title due to what I had seen I was still looking forward to playing it.

Also, I hope rumors stay rumors but if not, please get well Kamiya.

 

[Coffee Dog]

So TMNT Manhattan whatever came to be and Scalebound got shafted, huh?

That's a pretty easy feat when one was developed for 4 years and the other got developed in like 4 months.

 

[What A Time To Be Alive]

Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2.

Sea of Thieves is going for that Open World MMO type vibe. I don't think it's AAA-game by any means. Feel like it's that $40 on release type of game. Same with State of Decay.

 

[Obliterator]

Would another publisher be able to pick up the pieces of this? Nintendo did it with Bayonetta 2. Would Microsoft be able to block a direct competitor from using something they were directly involved with?

MS owns the IP. No one can do anything with it unless MS sells the rights / assets to another publisher.

Which given the report of what state the game was in is almost 0% anyone is interested

 

[Granjinha]

Would another publisher be able to pick up the pieces of this? Nintendo did it with Bayonetta 2. Would Microsoft be able to block a direct competitor from using something they were directly involved with?

MS owns the IP and all the assets.

 

[GTSweet]

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

Saddening news if this is true.

This is awful, awful to hear.

Heartbreaking on multiple levels.

 

[vpance]

Would PS4 owners even want it?

Because, speaking as a PS4 owner, I still think the game looks like shit.

Would not even download from PS+

 

[sixteen-bit]

Microsoft statement incoming in the next few minutes.

ETA?

 

[WadeitOut]

I mean, can we call it bad luck now? It's a pretty bad track record.

This doesn't sound remotely like Microsoft's fault, so yes.

 

[Skux]

Four years in development!? How could it take so long for MS to realise it wasn't working? What a waste of time and resources.

 

[oti]

Is Below still a thing? Pls say yes.

 

[Jarmel]

For Scalebound or Phantom Dust?

If you mean Phantom Dust, originally it was a multiplayer only game then they asked them to turn it into a 30 hour JRPG whilst still keeping the same budget.

Phantom Dust dev collapsed under Microsoft's demands

Yea the Phantom Dust stuff was definitely on Microsoft being insane.

 

[Zedark]

Scalebound was Mattrick.

Come to think about it, which projects did Spencer initiate that we know of? Sea of Thieves maybe, Ori, Cuphead, Dead Rising 4 and State of Decay 2 come to mind (outside of Forza titles).

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Source?

The poster, Sneakers, has been saying it in quite a few threads.

 

[prwxv3]

Good, didn't even notice he was banned when I quoted him. Hate seeing posts like that, I waste no time adding people to my ignore list when such nonsense is posted.

Yea good fuck that guy.

 

[Diprosalic]

Now it looks like just Crackdown 3, Forza 7, and (maybe) Cuphead this year.

Crackdown 3 might just be swept under the rug and Cuphead is probably a 2020 title.