Microsoft has always been a company that secured huge deals in order to establish its dominance with a product over a particular market. When it tried to bolster the Xbox One’s line up of exclusive blockbuster games toward the beginning of the console’s life cycle with Scalebound, there was a lot of excitement over the project, but it ultimately got cancelled by Microsoft in early 2017, months before its scheduled release date.
For a game that was cancelled over three years ago, it is both surprising and heartening to see fans of Scalebound and its developers still discuss the project to this day. The game has a lot of history behind it and still has a lot of potential to it too which is certainly strange for a cancelled project.
History of Scalebound
At the start of the PS4 and Xbox One generation, both Sony and Microsoft were making significant strides toward securing as many exclusive games as possible for each console. At E3 2014, Microsoft revealed one of its latest partnerships, at the time, to be a publishing deal over a game developed by Platinum Games called Scalebound. The reveal trailer alone excited many fans eager to play new games on their Xbox One.
Hideki Kamiya, a director at Platinum (whose previous work includes Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Viewtiful Joe), was also announced to be directing this game, and seeing as how he has his own large fan base, people started to become more and more hyped for this new Xbox exclusive.
In the game, players would have controlled Drew, a protagonist with dragon powers that manifest from his dragon arm. Players were able to power up Drew’s abilities and attack power by activating his dragon hybrid form which turns him into a humanoid dragon creature. The novelty of this game revolved around the player also being able to give commands to Drew’s dragon companion, Thuban.
Players would have been able to upgrade and customize the dragon significantly, and because the game featured online co-op, players would have also been able to show off and compare their dragons with their friends’ dragons while they went on adventures together online. The fantasy action RPG elements of the game made it a highly anticipated game which made its cancellation all the more disappointing.
After delaying Scalebound out of its original release window of late 2016, Microsoft made the decision to pull the plug on the project in January of 2017, with both Platinum and Microsoft admitting that the game was not reaching the standards that were ultimately intended. Whatever issues the project was going through, this news stung fans where it hurt.
Since the game’s cancellation, there were a series of rumors suggesting the game’s return yet nothing has materialized out of them. Notably, in early 2019, reports heavily suggested that Scalebound was being revived as a Nintendo Switch exclusive, but these reports ended up being false, once again to the dismay of fans.
Scalebound’s Current Situation
As of now, Scalebound is still a cancelled project with no signs of being revived in the near future. Fans aren’t the only people hoping for a comeback from the game, as Platinum producer Atsushi Inaba recently stated in an interview that Platinum Games wants to complete Scalebound, it just needs Microsoft’s permission.
Microsoft is currently gearing up for the release of the Xbox Series X and huge titles like Halo Infinite. If it is planning on doing anything with the IP rights to Scalebound, it most likely isn’t going to announce anything on the project anytime soon. However, that doesn't fully count the game out of future considerations.
The Future of Scalebound
The IP rights of Scalebound are under Microsoft’s control, meaning unless Microsoft wants to restart development on the project, say, for a future Xbox Series X release, the game is doomed to be in cancellation purgatory. Another outcome would be for Platinum to purchase the rights from Microsoft, but if that was an easy task, it might have been done already. In fact, Microsoft almost purchased Platinum Games last year instead but that fell through as well.
With the PS5 and Xbox Series X kicking off a new generation of console gaming later this year, Sony and Microsoft have bunkered down and are intensively preparing for how to capitalize on the holiday season without messing the entire thing up. Both companies have been undoubtedly prepping up new exclusives to be launched, or at least announced, for the new consoles in an attempt to sway early adopters toward one or the other. Scalebound will remain a card in Microsoft’s hand until it decides to make a move with it.
Scalebound is a cancelled project for Xbox One.