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Scalebound cancelled [Platinum Games and Kamiya have commented]

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Koppai

Member
Well I never paid much attention to this game, but is there really a big market for Japanese games on Xbox? I know that western gamers bought stuff like Dark Souls, but not sure about much others. Is there a possibility like another publisher could pick it up, or will it stay dead since it was Microsoft backed?

Hopefully Nintendo asks Platinum to work on some games for them. I wouldn't mind Bayonetta 3 :)
 

watership

Member
Sounds like PG missed major milestones. As the company footing the bill. How long do you pump money into something that maybe isn't coming together?

MS is very aware they're behind in exclusive games. I would think they would risk a sem-okay to experimental failure. Especially from Platinum. If someone can give a reason why MS would dump a game this long into development, knowing their games deficit, knowing the shit they will experience from press and the public, other than the game in a disaster-level state, i'm willing to hear it.
 

HeelPower

Member
Its the direction the majority of the industry is headed in.

Really Sony 1st party should be commended in terms of still producing major, expensive, single player focused narrative games. They are one of the few players in town still doing it.

I dunno about that.

Uncharted 4 had a full game's worth of Multiplayer content,Bloodborne had the chalice dungeons ,an entire section designed mainly around MP,and general support for Multiplayer.
 

Wark

Member
Ah, man - that's a huge letdown! That's a shame because it was one of the few Xbox One exclusives that I was looking forward to. Well, hopefully Kamiya moves onto something else interesting - which I'm sure he will.
 

Daouzin

Member
Super sad to hear this got canceled, but with Nier Automata in like 2 months, I can't say I'm too bothered by it. Nier was definitely the game I cared about most.

Scalebound looked cool in a lot of the footage, but the "gameplay" just seemed all over the place.
 
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.

Whatever E3 is going to bring probably isn't going to help 2017 for ms unfortunately.
 
Sad to see this get cancelled. I'll be honest, I wasn't entire sold on the game, but I was willing to give a shot because of Kamiya and his team, even if I couldn't get a Xbox One by the time the game launched I still would have bought a copy.

I think what's even more depressing about all of this is reading how the production affected Kamiya and his team, then to see it suddenly stop and all that work no longer coming to fruition with a finished product...it's an obvious major blow.

I hope Kamiya and his team can recover physically and mentally from to hopefully a new project soon. I also hope Platinum doesn't suffer from this.
 

Laputa_94

Member
Thats a shame. I highly enjoyed every platinum I've played. I don't have a xbox and didn't plan on getting one, but I was hoping that Kamiya could put out another great game.
 

Coda

Member
Having faith in Platinum is almost a joke in 2017. They are so hit and miss with so many B and C teams you never know what Platinum you're going to get.

I love their style to death but man have their recent releases been so mediocre.

Nier Automata is gonna be bomb though, I have very high faith in that game being great.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Yep, a little over a year ago when I was deciding between PS4 and Xbox One I decided I didnt trust Microsoft with exclusives after the 360. Was really tempted by scalebound after the E3 trailer.

MS has really fucked up some big announcements after mining the hype.

Shit like the phantom dust reveal was scummy. The MCC was a shitshow.
 
It's only MS bowing out on this, Nintendo still produce fantastic single player experiences as well.

I was referring to story heavy games (which most Nintendo titles aren't, they are largely more mechanics focused) but I agree Ninty is still doing lots of single player stuff.

3rd party AAA however, the main thing I was referring to, have almost all left town. Look at the big games Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, 2K, etc. have on the horizon. The vast majority are largely online / microtransaction heavy. Its the most profitable game in town, so its understandable this is the way many are going.
 

watdaeff4

Member
The one-size-fits-all approach is a terrible way to do things. It limits your platform's scope and breadth of content. Only a handful of games could do it.

Sports games could do it, EASILY.

Online Shooters could do it, EASILY.

Fighters can't. Platformers can't. RPG's can't. Action games can't. But then again, I'm left wondering 'what's left anymore?'

Fighters already have. Look at KI and SFV.

RPGs already have look at the boatload of MMOs out there.

I don't like that model but it does look to be the future
 

OVDRobo

Member
This is unfortunate. Scalebound didn't really interest me based on the trailers and demos, and as a Playstation owner without an Xbox One, I didn't really have much concern about whether or not Scalebound succeeded, but seeing the lineup that Microsoft is touting is concerning. All of them have a number on the end except for Sea of Thieves and all of those are sequels to unreliable franchises.

I don't really understand what Microsoft's long-term plans are here. They seem to be going all in on a cross-PC/Xbox future where the PC players don't seem to be particularly receptive to their plans because of existing solutions and Xbox gamers are fine with their Xboxes. Add to that the quality of their software lineup lacking compared to Sony and it just doesn't seem like what they're planning has enough foundation to actually convert people and create a good userbase.

Hopefully Kamiya and that subsection of Platinum has something else in the works, or at least manages to salvage some good ideas from this game and implement them into future Platinum games (like 'witch time' in Nier) since they're a solid developer.
 

bidguy

Banned
Depends on what you think a 'ton' is, and whether you truly consider games like Forza 7 & Halo 6 to be unannounced. Outside of those two.... yeah, don't hold your breath in terms of volume.

are you telling us they got nothing in the cook pot for scorpio ?
 
I dunno about that.

Uncharted 4 had a full game's worth of Multiplayer content,Bloodborne had the chalice dungeons ,an entire section designed mainly around MP,and general support for Multiplayer.

Their games still have some online / microtransaction models (as they should)

but there isn't a single 1st or 3rd party right now with the slate of Story driven games on the horizon Sony has. Not even close.
 
Where was this level of interest in the actual fucking game? Now all of a sudden people really want to play it and are so broken up about it being canceled. I will repeat what I said. Most of the people making this so large didn't give a shit, and I'm okay with saying that.
Chill. A lot of people have said that the game didn't interest them but are nonetheless posting because it's big news. I'm in that category: the game didn't look appealing to me but Platinum has mostly made games I've enjoyed, so it's sad news. Especially with the news that Kamiya's health could have been affected.

You being ok with throwing blank statements without any backing does not make it right. Stop the fanboy whining.
 
They will likely shift those people to the Granblue Fantasy Project they have coming up for now, until they get contracted again.
Who's funding that? You're not just putting 100 people on another project to keep them working, you'll have find the money to pay them, not sure how strong financially platinum is but they better find more work soon, if they didn't meet milestones for Scalebound they might already be in trouble. MS doesn't just cancel games so far into development.
 

BD1

Banned
Yup the major talent will get funneled to the other existing projects while the redundant employees that now don't have SB to work on will have to be laid off.

There are some recent rumors by a YouTube'r who is running 12 days of Switch "leaks" that Platnium is working on a Switch exclusive. Hopefully that's true and it will mean continued work for Platnium.

I worry about this big of a AAA IP getting cancelled this late in development and what it might mean for such a cool studio. The track record of what usually follows this type of move by Microsoft is a little frightening.
 

singhr1

Member
MS is very aware they're behind in exclusive games. I would think they would risk a sem-okay to experimental failure. Especially from Platinum. If someone can give a reason why MS would dump a game this long into development, knowing their games deficit, knowing the shit they will experience from press and the public, other than the game in a disaster-level state, i'm willing to hear it.

Look at how many failures MS games had in 2016. Quantum Break. Recore. Dead Rising 4. You have to draw the line somewhere.
 

Ricker

Member
Cuphead keeps getting delayed and keeps changing gameplay,I hope its not the next exclusive to get cancelled...and the Scorpio is a biggger jump from the X1 then the PRO is to the PS4 I believe.
 

Neonep

Member
Kamiya's next game will never see the light of day on a Microsoft console. As much as this sucks, Nintendo & Sony won a bit cause Platinum games are more likely to appear on their consoles and we all know Platinum has no problems making console exclusives.
 

firelogic

Member
Nintendo should pick this up for Switch.

4+ years in development and it's not worth completing so it's been cancelled. Moving it to the Switch will make it great? A more logical wish would be to say, "Since the Scalebound team is free now, they should work on Bayonetta 3."
 
Cuphead keeps getting delayed and keeps changing gameplay,I hope its not the next exclusive to get cancelled...and the Scorpio is a biggger jump from the X1 then the PRO is to the PS4 I believe.

Someone in this thread who works on Cuphead has already stated that it is
not going to be
cancelled.
 
The one-size-fits-all approach is a terrible way to do things. It limits your platform's scope and breadth of content. Only a handful of games could do it.

Sports games could do it, EASILY.

Online Shooters could do it, EASILY.

Fighters can't. Platformers can't. RPG's can't. Action games can't. But then again, I'm left wondering 'what's left anymore?'

Killer Instinct is doing well. Fighting games can adopt this strategy but you are right in that not all genres can do this.
 

bidguy

Banned
Unless they have secret first party studios stashed away ready to jump out of the Scorpio cake, who is there to cook that pot?

i dont know but i have a hard time believing theyre gonna launch a system with 0 new games, new as in not announced in fucking 2014

thats pitiful as fuck and would definitely make me hesitate to buy scorpio no matter what the specs
 

Neonep

Member
Cuphead keeps getting delayed and keeps changing gameplay,I hope its not the next exclusive to get cancelled...and the Scorpio is a biggger jump from the X1 then the PRO is to the PS4 I believe.
Shouldn't Cuphead be out by now, it feels like I've been hearing about that game forever.
 

Nairume

Banned
The problem for Platinum is they now have 100+ people sitting there, needing to be paid, who do not have a project to work on.

You don't just walk away from a major cancellation like this unscathed. There will be more than likely layoffs, but yes Platinum will survive it.
For what it's worth, the context that MS actually canned Scalebound a little while ago makes the situation possibly a little less dire, since we probably would have already heard of Platinum having to lay people off if they didn't have something else lined up to put people on and pay the bills .

Unless the thing about them contracting a lot of the development work out to do the heavy lifting ended up meaning that not much of Platinum proper is at risk.
 

icespide

Banned
i dont know but i have a hard time believing theyre gonna launch a system with 0 new games, new as in not announced in fucking 2014

thats pitiful as fuck and would definitely make me hesitate to buy scorpio no matter what the specs

they will rely on partnerships with third parties to really showcase the Scorpio I think, and frankly that will be fine. exclusives really don't matter that much anymore
 
I'm always reminded of that Eurogamer article on why MS failed in Japan, and the meeting they had with Shinji Mikami.



There are people in MS who care, but for a long time its felt like MS overall, and those who hold the real power just don't value these things, and that's a shame. "games that could be considered art. much like film" is a sentiment you would associate with games that have come from Sony not MS and I don't know if I see MS actually wanting to do that outside of one or two franchises. Good luck to Stinkles & co.
Agreed.
 

TM94

Member
Depends on what you think a 'ton' is, and whether you truly consider games like Forza 7 & Halo 6 to be unannounced. Outside of those two.... yeah, don't hold your breath in terms of volume.

Yeah, I didn't expect anything otherwise really, apart from the Ori sequel to publicly surface and a couple other low-key things...
 

Peltz

Member
]Cuphead keeps getting delayed and keeps changing gameplay,I hope its not the next exclusive to get cancelled[/B]...and the Scorpio is a biggger jump from the X1 then the PRO is to the PS4 I believe.

It won't get cancelled. I just think it won't be very fun despite looking quite pretty. Run-n-gun is a hard genre to do properly.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Whilst I agree with all this the problem is MP focused games sell far better than single player story driven games outside of some special edge cases. People vote with their wallets and the mass market is much more drawn to mp focused things, frustratingly.

So Mario 3D World, Zelda, The last of Us, Uncharted 4, Dragon Age series, MASS EFFECT series totally didn't sell well and would have sold more had they been more multiplayer focused?

Because if your game is good, well promoted, it can do well. Quantum Break was pretty medicore, So was recore.
The issue is MS doesn't have a capable studio who specialize in well made single player experiences. And that would be attributed to how they have marketed the xbox brand as a party system.

One where you connect with your friends and play halo, gears or whatever either online competitively or co-op.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
you honestly think this thread is so big now because people want to feign concern and not because they were actually looking forward to the game?

Go look back at almost any Scalebound thread. They're pretty barren.

The most you see Scalebound mentioned is in the 2017 Flop thread. It's even in the OP.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Saw the thread title, and my immediate reaction was a laugh and, "Bullshit." Then I realized this is GAF, so it had to be true.

Wow.

I hope to see Cerny pop up on his Instagram, with an arm around Kamiya.
 
Stuff like this makes me appreciate how lucky we were when we worked with a publisher (Penny Arcade). They gave us a great deal of freedom with design, we got a very favorable revenue split, they didn't penalize us for going overschedule, they didn't change the goalposts mid-development, and just in general, they were really great.
 
Scalebound was a huge openworld AAA game that was supposed to be their push into the Western market with a big online multiplayer component. What, do you think Nier is comparable to it?
I think the only people who think Scalebound was a AAA game must be Xbox fanboys or people who WANTED it to be a AAA game. Especially looking how the games production went, like how it kept getting uglier in technology showings, no one should ever think the game was a AAA game. They've got their pirate game for online multiplayer, and all their other multiplayer games, like Gears and Halo that are already AAA games. And people, realistically knowing Microsofts record with Japanese games, knew this was never going to be a successful AAA game. As seen in my other posts, Nier won't be a AAA success. It appeals to a certain fanbase of people who will dedinitely buy it but just like the original Nier, it's a niche game. As was Scalebound. The One will never be able to be pushed into Western markets with a Japanese game. The 360 has some success in that area but these are different times. And I'm saying this as a One owner.
 

Jarmel

Banned
For what it's worth, the context that MS actually canned Scalebound a little while ago makes the situation possibly a little less dire, since we probably would have already heard of Platinum having to lay people off if they didn't have something else lined up to put people on and pay the bills .

Unless the thing about them contracting a lot of the development work out to do the heavy lifting ended up meaning that not much of Platinum proper is at risk.

It seems like they canned it on Dec. 28 considering that's when Kellams and Kamiya dropped off the Twitter map. If so then we should probably be hearing about the layoffs in the upcoming week or two as the time between then and now has mostly been holidays.
 

SuperÑ

OptionN, ShiftN
DonteTude.gif


It was for the best. Character design was bad.
 
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