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Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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gamz

Member
This is just the greatest narrative that has emerged from this disaster.

If Microsoft needs to divert funds from one of their few games in an anemic lineup, the division is in deep trouble.

Some of you guys propose these scenarios trying to spin things into a positive without even thinking it through.

Or the game was really that bad.
 
If Xbox is to leave the console industry, I would probably drop console gaming all together and switch to PC. Maybe I would own Nintendo Switch for exclusives but thats pretty much it. If Sony were to leave, I would do the same damn thing as well. I would hate to see how unbalanced this would all be if it was left up to Nintendo vs Sony/MS. Nintendo barely competes as it is. All of the big 3 companies have had big egos before and it lead to some terrible products and without the competition, we wouldnt have gotten the better product.

If the division is spun off into its own or sold that might be okay, but it would depend on what was happening in said company.

However I think its waaaaay too early to be talking about this. MS still has Scorpio to release by the end of the year and whatever else they havent announced yet.
 
I am still baffled by the notion that no one cared about this game, or that everyone thought it looked like shit and now everyone just wants to shit on Microsoft.

I'm so tired of this persecution complex shit

Revisionist history. The reveal thread was full of people who were hyped to fuck. A big budget current gen game headed by Kamiya? Sure, the art direction and main character design had a mixed reception, but people were still hyped.

We saw gameplay footage and while it did look rough, the hype was still there. I'd argue there are more people here suddenly saying "well, it looked shit anyway" than there are people who claimed to have not cared and are changing their tune now that the game is no more.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
As stated in the Xbox first party thread, Xbox's bread and butter is multiplayer, that's what they have built their brand and platform on and that's the audience they've cultivated for 10 years, as the industry moves toward GAAS it's a natural transition for Microsoft versus Sony and Nintendo. To your last point, they do have software to push their hardware and that's third party games, the same games that already pushes their hardware (the top selling Xbox One games backs this up).

Software wise Grand Theft Auto, Destiny, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Madden, FIFA, etc. Has done more for Xbox One sales than Halo or Gears ever will let alone their other exclusives and that's not a knock on Microsoft's 1st party games quality. That's just the reality of the current landscape.

Then why are they not doing so great? Why are people not buying Gears 4, Halo like they use to on 360?

Diversity in early 360 and og xbox is what helped them. Having a combination of playing solo, local co-op or online is what made them popular. A lot of people had 360's but didnt even have them tied to the internet. They played local split screen. Same goes for early halo games that later focused more on multipler as time went on.

Making your console lean towards multiplayer experiences actually limits the types of players you can have player base wise. That tonal shift they had from early 360 to later is what has fucked them. They only want their curated library to be multiplayer based with service type updates to them to keep people in their games. Which is something you can't force it has to happen organically especially if it's built from the ground up to be that way.
 

hawk2025

Member
That should tell you how much of a mess the game was then.

Do you realize how silly this sounds?

It's completely circular logic. You are assuming the conclusion based on blind faith in the decision making of Microsoft.

You know, the ones that actually planned and executed the reveal of the Xbox One?
 

King Kye

Banned
The thing that utterly baffles me regarding this phenomenon is the realization that people were actually dismissing the game completely after the E3 showing. I knew the response to the demo itself was tepid, but I didn't think for a second that people were questioning the actual quality of the elements on display. I thought it was just a bad demo, but it hardly looked "rough" or "bad" at all, with possible exception of the multiplayer boss battle, which could easily be explained by its obviously tacked-on nature and seemed like it would have turned out fine with polish.

In fact, that was just my general stance towards the game at the time. Demo looked bad, but it'll be a fine Platinum game with some polish. At no point did I even consider that there was bad buzz or the game would be outright cancelled. I'm in complete shock. Outside the game demoing badly, I largely thought it looked great and would eventually turn out fine.

I don't own an X1, but I was super looking forward to this game due to its pedigree and just how different it was.

This whole thing is so weird. X1 is pretty much dead to me now.
 

gamz

Member
Do you realize how silly this sounds?

It's completely circular logic. You are assuming the conclusion based on blind faith in the decision making of Microsoft.

You know, the ones that actually planned and executed the reveal of the Xbox One?

Why else would you cancel a game this far into production?
 

flkraven

Member
I am still baffled by the notion that no one cared about this game, or that everyone thought it looked like shit and now everyone just wants to shit on Microsoft.

I'm so tired of this persecution complex shit

Here is the first page of the 2016 official showing
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1232689


That was... something

Talk about underwhelming.

The gameplay looks incredibly bland and boring.

Scalebound looks like they tried to merge gameplay from 3-4 games into a single clunky mess.

it looked absolutely dreadful

I guess the focus was to make a spectacle instead of making a game that is fun to play.

Loud and obnoxious.

I was never a fan to begin with but this really didn't impress me. I suspect I'm just not the target market. To each their own

Kamiya, I am disappoint.


Spamming that bow looks tedious.

For a Kamiya title, it seemed really lacking in energy

Looked pretty piss poor.


Boring as fuck.

That looked underwhelming

That looked pretty goddamn boring and uninspired.

Also, yea totally, let's not ride around on this sweet dragon, but let's shoot a bow!

That looks incredibly incredibly bad. Wow. Lol.

Wow that looked like fucking garbage.

I dare you to shit on FFXV after this lol

"Biggest boss we ever made at Platinum" ... Really?
*looks at Jubileus and Jergingha* Really?
Come on Kamiya...

Even more cringe than the Minecraft session.

Looks awful. Kamiya can do way better than this :/

Graphically, it looks astonishing. Gameplay-wise it was kinda meh.

Insanely disappointed. That looked bad .

By making it multiplayer and stats based, it's just gonna turn into one big grind and spam fest.

By having gear checks, these games lose the finesse and sensibilities which Platinum games are known for.

Im so tired of these games where they show you a bunch of action that looks so generic and LOUD. It's a lame attempt at looking exciting or meaningful but it feels numbing.

It was the same with the Final Fantasy demo. Here's a huge enemy, and look at my character do all these awesome moves.

Main character looks horrible, voice-acting is terrible, music......ugh

Maaaaan Platinum, WTF? :/ It really looks and sounds horrible.

Looks unfun to play. Not what I'd expect from Platinum at all.

Between this, Drakengard 3, and Lair, I'm becoming disillusioned with the whole flying dragons concept.

uhh...i don't know what i was expecting :/

I liked the idea of a bayonetta game with a giant monster friend with possible loot and 4 person coop. I don't find the monster hunter-ness particularly exciting :(

But EatChildren said this game would be cool

Between this, TMNT, and Star Fox Zero, Platinum fell the fuck off

Why do all these japanese games have to be so cringe inducing? FF XV had the same problem, and to a lesser degree, Tekken 7. Its like the dialogue was written for 10-year-olds.

Does nothing for me. I really don't see the appeal. Need to see more of course.

That looked so terrible. What's up with the stupid headphones?

Both look pretty damn bad.

I shouldn't be underwhelmed by a Kamiya game. But dammit man...

Is it just me or are the graphics a little worse.

Admittedly I don't hold Platinum in as high a regard as many GAFers on here, but that demo did nothing for me.

Wow... erm... errrr.... maybe.... it plays better than it looks? Bad video... right?

Platinum be slippin. At least they got Nier, fuck everything else

Just looks bad... These boring ass big boss fights just don't cut it in a post Dragons Dogma world.

Yup another platinum dud to add to a quickly growing list.

I've never seen a Kamiya game get these kind of reactions.

The Wonderful 101 also had lukewarm reception in its initial, but at least it had some charm.

Damn. This game and ReCore both really disappointed me. I'm sure the game will end up being good, but that did not impress.

Very, very disapointed

Looks like platinum isn't the second coming of developer Jesus.

That was just not compelling at all, main character didn't look in danger at any point and the combat looks pretty boring :(

This is why Inaba left. Couldnt stand by and watch his company make these flop games.

What the hell. The first CGI trailer had set very, very different expectations for artstyle and gameplay... :/

I can't say I have high expectations if I'm judging the game by that trailer. I'm hoping for the best, anyway.

I can't believe animations are still rough and identical to last year

I will probably buy this day one because I love Platinum, but that boss fight was boring as hell.

huge mantis fight from last year showcased the combat better.


I expected something more dynamics coming from Platinum Games.

FFXV was only demoed bad, this one looks pretty bad as a whole game imho.

I'm a Platinum fan. Loved Bayo, W101, and even Star Fox Zero.This... yeah I'm not impressed.
I hope Nier turns out good at least. Maybe Nintendo has them working on something new as well.

Platinum Games exposed. This was...underwhelming, better than FFXV's, but it's still pretty bad.

More specifically, I don't like bow/ranged combat all that much, which is why I don't care for Horizon Zero Dawn. The melee combat also looks pretty average.

Is there any point to owning an XB1 anymore? Im trying to figure out why i have one. i have PC and PS4... and got XB1 for all these exclusives (Quantum Break, Scalebound, ReCore, Gears of War)

But now, none of those games are exclusive. so MS straight up lied to me. This looks okay... but not nearly as good as the reveal... and now its not even going to justify having an XB1.

Im seriously confused as to the purpose of XB1 anymore.

Awful demo that killed most of the interest I had in this.

When you have so many possibilities in the arsenal, you stick to a shitty bow? At least infuse the arrows with something. Lost Planet 4 looks meh.

Kamiya, what are you doing? This looks terrible. And the main character is horrible. enough to kill any interest I could have in this game.
 
Why else would you cancel a game this far into production?

Wow man it's been talked about over and over, see Phantom dust? If you worked in the real world, you would know it is not always as simple as "The game sucked". Management middling, mis-management, not listening to the people working on the project, office politics often can ruin large projects, you are not really this Naive and think it is this cut and dry are you?
 

Tigress

Member
I am still baffled by the notion that no one cared about this game, or that everyone thought it looked like shit and now everyone just wants to shit on Microsoft.

I'm so tired of this persecution complex shit

I'm baffled by the people who thought this game looked bad. I thought it looked like one of the more interesting MS offerings and seemed to get a lot of good press (I was kinda shocked they cancelled it but not the first project I'm shocked they cancelled).

Doesn't affect me as I don't have an xbox but it was one of the few games that made me think maybe when I could find one cheap it would be worth it.

I don't think no one cared about this game. But there were some who thought it looked bad (but you can't say just cause you see some posts of people saying that no one cared. I certainly saw posts that were excited about it).
 
If Xbox is to leave the console industry, I would probably drop console gaming all together and switch to PC. Maybe I would own Nintendo Switch for exclusives but thats pretty much it. If Sony were to leave, I would do the same damn thing as well. I would hate to see how unbalanced this would all be if it was left up to Nintendo vs Sony/MS. Nintendo barely competes as it is. All of the big 3 companies have had big egos before and it lead to some terrible products and without the competition, we wouldnt have gotten the better product.

If the division is spun off into its own or sold that might be okay, but it would depend on what was happening in said company.

However I think its waaaaay too early to be talking about this. MS still has Scorpio to release by the end of the year and whatever else they havent announced yet.

All these companies have competition from other places even if one of them was to drop out .
Lets say two of them drop out and that leaves only one .
They would still have to worry about other things some more than others .
Like mobile , PC , streaming etc etc .
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
I am still baffled by the notion that no one cared about this game, or that everyone thought it looked like shit and now everyone just wants to shit on Microsoft.

I'm so tired of this persecution complex shit
This shit never fails to get a chuckle out of me. Usually it's the same buffoons who bring it up time after time again. At this point, I feel like it's the only thing they feel they have left(?) Sad.

On topic: I still can't believe they cancelled this shit. Would really like some actual investigative journalism on what went down behind the scenes. Platinum best not be in jeopardy cause of this shit.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Yeah fuck this post. there's plenty of people in there excited for scalebound.

E3 showings are rarely representative of a game's final quality. It was still worth getting excited about as the first new Kamiya game since 2009, a dude with a track record consisting of only some of the most treasured games.

Yea there was gameplay from 2015 Gamescom that I thought looked great, he want to create a narrative.
 
This shit never fails to get a chuckle out of me. Usually it's the same buffoons who bring it up time after time again. At this point, I feel like it's the only thing they feel they have left(?) Sad.

On topic: I still can't believe they cancelled this shit. Would really like some actual investigative journalism on what went down behind the scenes. Platinum best not be in jeopardy cause of this shit.

Yeah I really don't get it. When Scalebound was revealed it was by far, and I mean by far, the biggest surprise and hypest announcement. People here on GAF were going nuts that MS had gotten a Platinum exclusive, AND from the A team with Kamiya at the head!

Please one of you people who keep claiming no one cared, please tell me one game at that stage presentation that even came near Scalebound as far as hype?
 
Why else would you cancel a game this far into production?

Because the whole Xbox division is on scrutiny and they are changing their software philosophy to "games as services", so a SP focused quirky japanese games dosn't fit that new portfolio.

So instead of puring more money onto it, use that money to create software that the higher ups want is something that can cancel a game.

Just an example.
 

gamz

Member
If the scope of the project means they need to put more money into it after the next fiscal year, and that doesn't match up with MS' current plans for Xbox?

Which would put blame on both sides. MS for not giving Platinum some extra breathing room on a big project, and Platinum for allowing their scope to creep past too many milestones.

The game could very well be bad, but that isn't necessarily the reason it got canceled.

I'll agree with that. Missing budgets and release dates will do you in. Unless, you're James Cameron.
 
And yet it was the most anticipated XB1 exclusive on here a week ago.

2016 showing was bad, obviously. But that doesn't mean people instantly lose faith in a project.

yep FFXV E3 showing was not good also ( and a few others times they show it off )
But the game turn out okay and seem to be doing find sale wise.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
If the scope of the project means they need to put more money into it after the next fiscal year, and that doesn't match up with MS' current plans for Xbox?

Which would put blame on both sides. MS for not giving Platinum some extra breathing room on a big project, and Platinum for allowing their scope to creep past too many milestones.

It could also be something as mundane as, Platinum's MS liason at the beginning of the project assured them they had all the time and support to get the game done right, and that person might not be there anymore, along with those assurances. That kind of shit happens all the time in every industry.

The game could very well be bad, but that isn't necessarily the reason it got canceled.

As the owner of a publisher (board games, but still), its amazing how much behind the scenes stuff can go wrong. Usually the smaller party (designer) is the one that crows the loudest to sources. It behooves MS in absolutely no way to shit talk a designer, but the designer needs to get it out there that it was not their fault so that future partners are not scared off.

We'll never know what exactly happened here and where blame lies. I've had designers publicly announce changes to a game weeks before it went to release, and then publicly blame me for the games failings in forums. I read it, I know the story is far more complicated, and I said absolutely nothing. Because it benefits me in no way at all to get into the weeds.

But Platinum sounds a lot like Chip Kelly after he got fired.:

http://deadspin.com/chip-kelly-is-playing-the-game-1790708785

In the case of this product, my guess is the budget creep was not going to align with sales expectations. It was a red meat announcement at a time that MS needed to win back the core gamers trust. It didn't work beyond some hooting and hollering at E3, it was clear based on sales of other red meat titles (ReCore) that this strategy was a money losing gambit that was not getting them the gamers they wanted to grab. Likely bc Sony was engaged in the same activity (TLG, FF7 remake, etc) and staved off any possible momentum MS might have had with that demo. So, when you are a pet project with limited financial upside on the sales end, missing deadlines and budget milestones is going to be an easy call from the publishers perspective.

This likely also does not bode well for Crackdown, but I hope I'm wrong.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
Yeah I really don't get it. When Scalebound was revealed it was by far, and I mean by far, the biggest surprise and hypest announcement. People here on GAF were going nuts that MS had gotten a Platinum exclusive, AND from the A team with Kamiya at the head!

Please one of you people who keep claiming no one cared, please tell me one game at that stage presentation that even came near Scalebound as far as hype?

The Master Chief Collection far surpassed Scalebound's hype.
 

Peltz

Member
Then why are they not doing so great? Why are people not buying Gears 4, Halo like they use to on 360?

Diversity in early 360 and og xbox is what helped them. Having a combination of playing solo, local co-op or online is what made them popular. A lot of people had 360's but didnt even have them tied to the internet. They played local split screen. Same goes for early halo games that later focused more on multipler as time went on.

^This. I got an original Xbox and Xbox 360 because each system had great singleplayer content. I am generally not a multiplayer gamer. As a result, I am still looking for a reason to grab an Xbox One and I thought Scalebound would be it.
 

NotLiquid

Member
Here is the first page of the 2016 official showing
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1232689

I mean, The Wonderful 101 also saw a huge influx of "is THIS what Kamiya has been working on?" posts and that game ended up stomping everyone and becoming some pretty fucking wicked sick stuff. Once people get over the shock of what Kamiya working on being something most people weren't expecting I think they quickly warm up to the idea that it's gonna be something crazy and unique.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Yeah I really don't get it. When Scalebound was revealed it was by far, and I mean by far, the biggest surprise and hypest announcement. People here on GAF were going nuts that MS had gotten a Platinum exclusive, AND from the A team with Kamiya at the head!

Please one of you people who keep claiming no one cared, please tell me one game at that stage presentation that even came near Scalebound as far as hype?
The Scalebound project was by far the hypest project MS had in their damn portfolio this generation. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is on crack and likes to distort facts. This was The big one almost everyone was looking forward to. Sure, they had a lackluster E3 showing but nothing that indicated getting the project cancelled for.
 
As the owner of a publisher (board games, but still), its amazing how much behind the scenes stuff can go wrong. Usually the smaller party (designer) is the one that crows the loudest to sources. It behooves MS in absolutely no way to shit talk a designer

That said, Spencer's statement that Scalebound's cancellation is better for gamers is some real shit.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
People were pretty cold towards TW101 before the Direct and the hype trailer, just FYI.

The sales of Bayo 2 + W101 along with Wii U's overall reception probably had something to do with this decision.

I think MS realized that making the internet denizens happy didn't mean actual long-term success. There just aren't enough of us relative to people who might play Forza or a Halo game.
 

TheYanger

Member
Because the whole Xbox division is on scrutiny and they are changing their software philosophy to "games as services", so a SP focused quirky japanese games dosn't fit that new portfolio.

So instead of puring more money onto it, use that money to create software that the higher ups want is something that can cancel a game.

Just an example.

Again though, they're not going to do that unless they actually think that the profit they'd make from the game is actively lower than what it would cost to get it out. Not total, that's a sunk cost either way, but the cost from the time of the decision to cancel. That's a low bar presumably considering when it was scheduled to release, which almost surely points to the development being VERY troubled and nowhere near as finished as you'd believe a game slated to ship within 6 months would be.

That said, Spencer's statement that Scalebound's cancellation is better for gamers is some real shit.
If the game isn't good and they're throwing money at it that could be thrown at a game that turns out good, cancelling it is better for gamers. Seems really simple.
 
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