Scalebound was killed by hype, suggests Xbox boss Phil Spencer

[Phil Spencer] believes that the game could have been announced "too early," causing pressure that in fact was detrimental to the game's development cycle and eventually raised fan expectations to the point where it wasn't certain that the studio could actually deliver.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Spencer is an idiot

[Abash]

Phil Spencer: "They'll believe anything I say, anything!" It doesn't matter if I contradict myself, sound ridiculous, or flip fop on everything Xbox stands for whenever its needed, they'll eat it up like they always do!"

He's just a company man, he cares more about making money and looking good to his higher ups more than any fans/customers.

[Obscure_Observer]

"he cares more about making money and looking good to his higher ups more than any fans/customers."

That guy is Ryan.

[UCForce]

@Obscure_Observer I don't think so.

[MrCrabPuss]

"He's just a company man, he cares more about making money and looking good to his higher ups more than any fans/customers."

Yeah, "just a company man." Really? no kidding.
Its NOT his JOB to invest and risk untold millions of shareholder/company money pandering to whining suckhole children's wants and desires. It IS his JOB in fact to make the company money and be accountable to his "higher-ups" because once again its called a "JOB" and the word "JOB" is synonymous with the word "Business" and the entire point of a business such as this is to............thats right sonny, Make Money.

In summation... JOB-BUSINESS-MONEY

[_-EDMIX-_]

LOL!

[memots]

But what about that Limbo T-shirt !!
Seriously that game was going to fail because of stupid exclusivity to a failing console.
Just look at Recore....

[darthv72]

When they initially announced it, they were under the impression it was progressing to the point it was okay to talk about it.

Time passes, not much is said and then ultimately it gets canceled. This is what he (and sony) are trying to curb in regards to announcing games to early. This one got delayed and delayed and just wasnt where it was supposed to be after all the time and $$ put in.

Shit happens and yes... hype reached a pretty crazy level. Though i dont know which was more. The initial defense of the game (befofe cancelation) by xbox against ps4 fans or all those ps4 fans who came out after it was canceled to express concern over its fate.

Cancelations happen, studios close and it sucks but not nearly as much as that false sense of empathy when it does.

[GrmpyolGamer]

Take out the words "Phil Spencer" and u pretty much have Sonys business mantra right there and u keep falling for it so go figure

[UltraNova]

What happened to good guy gamer loving Phil?

[cleft5]

I am glad not everyone is blind to this reality. When its all said and done, he will have done more harm to the Xbox brand than any other major publisher could have hoped to do. I swear, its like this guy was sent in by Sony.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@Obscure_Observer

Neither Jim Ryan or Phil Spencer are your friends. If you believe otherwise, see the "Console Launch Exclusive" banner.

[Godmars290]

@MrCrabPuss:

Thing is the guy regularly addresses those " pandering and whining suckhole children" and does exactly that. Pander.

[choujij]

He's been drinking his own kool-aid for far too long.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

Thats what Phil Spinster does best!

[Brohan]

Lol again another person who doesn't know wtf their talking about.

[IamTylerDurden1]

@mrcrabpuss

Ok. We know it's his "JOB" but are u really excusing all the bs?

To blame the fans for killing Scalebound bc they were excited about it?

To consistently put down the competition saying Pro is not true 4K while mocking checkerboard and dynamic 4K only to be using it yourself in the xboneX. Anthem is checkerboard 4K on xboneX and AC Origins is DYNAMIC Resolution. Also, Metro was running on a high powered pc.

To mock the competition as not True 4K while your definition of 4K Ultra HD aka true 4K includes checkerboard and dynamic resolution. XboneX labels its games as 4K Ultra HD instead of native 4K bc many games will not be full native. Microsoft literally explains their definition of 4K Ultra HD as including checkerboard and dynamic which is so hypocritical and shady. They are trying to deceive ppl into thinking if an xboneX game has a 4K Ultra HD label then it's native 4K.

Then they stress that xboneX will be THE place for high powered console VR, but recently in an interview they contradicted that by saying pc was a better platform for VR and that xboneX would not support VR. Also, there was no mention of it at e3 and Spencer was evasive when asked about it.

Spencer has recently said that the Pro is not a competitor to the xboneX and that the X is in another league while the Pro is about the same as the xboneS. Think about this, xboneX is 6tf and Pro is 4.2tf while the xboneS is only 1.3tf. Even a child can figure out that 4.2 is closer to 6 than it is 1.3. It's such absolute rubbish from Spencer, he has said it multiple times.

Do we need to go back and recount the dx12 and cloud propaganda?

Spencer was quoted as saying "pkay the games not the resolution" earlier this gen. He downplayed specs and resolution for 3 years saying that they weren't very important only to be boasting and basing their entire xboneX campaign the very thing the previously downplayed.

There is no reason to lie, spin, and deceive. U can do your job successfully without being disingenuous. Case and point, Shu.

[-Foxtrot]

BU BU BUT....He wears a T-Shirt...he's one of us

HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS

/s

[Warshade]

This is exactly how I feel about everyone who stands on stage at E3 minus Miyamoto lol.

[Mithan]

And they should care about making money, or we wouldn't be getting future console systems from them. Also, looking after fans and consumers IS good sense, but fans and consumers need to realize that as well, and not reward companies for bad decisions.

Bad games do not make money, good games do make money. There are a few outliers that debunk this on both sides, but we can assume through self interest, that Scalebound sucked and they pulled it for that reason.

[rainslacker]

Well, at least we know its MS fault now. They're the one's that marketed the game, and they're the one's that raised expectations to levels which couldn't be reached, and they're the one's that didn't provide the resources to meet those expectations that they expected to be there as the producer.

Even if Phil thinks people will eat up what he says, at least it puts this issue to rest. At least in an ideal world that'd be the case.

[Omnislashver36]

Killed by hype? More like killed by MS.

[Omnislashver36]

The game looked like it was working to me. Maybe MS wasn't contributing enough? Consider Santa Monica spent all gen making God of War, Insomniac spent most of the gen making Spiderman, same with Sucker Punch and their new IP since the games before those two games were released at the beginning of the gen.

MS couldn't stand behind them? Contribute anything? Sony gave Kojima a damn engine, what did MS provide Platinum with but money?

And why did they close Lionhead as well?

And you want to talk delays and incompetence, look at Crackdown which took all gen and got downgraded to look like a PS2 game. Don't point your finger at a developer that has a proven track record.

I hope Kamiya and Platinum use what Scalebound taught them and make a new Drakengard game to shove it in MS's face.

[joab777]

Yeah, very strange to throw them under the bus like this, calling their abilities into question.

[Gazondaily]

It's hilarious how no one here actually read the article 😂 #4theblind

[Ausbo]

If you read more than the title, He blames it on announcing it too early, so yeah MS accepts responsibility for it

[slasaru01]

MS IS HYPE

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@JonnS
Was Nier Automata made by an incompetent developer?

--_--

[XanderZane]

More like killed by PG who couldn't meet the deadlines. Why do you think PG was apologizing to everyone?

@JonnS
Exactly, but biased fanboys will spin a different tale and blame M$ of course. Meantime M$ would continue to loose millions and millions by paying the developers over budget.

[Major_Glitch]

Remember when MS fans were touting Spencer as some brilliant mastermind who was going to lead the Xbox brand to the promised land? Yeah...looks like yet ANOTHER disappointment from team Microsoft.

[CaptainObvious878]

Remember when that complete idiot don mattrick got fired and spencer was put in charge.

Most level headed people were saying it was simply for PR to put "gamer phil" in charge because of MS atrocious public image at the time. They were saying Phil was just another suite, but every ms fanboy would deny the claim.

Over the years the evidence has pilled up that he's just another suite. This stupid comment of his is just more evidence of this fact.

MS has never changed, once again they drop support half way through the generation. This is why I will never support them.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

You can't even spell 'suit' properly to be taken seriously.

[RiPPn]

Yes, because his point had everything to do with spelling and grammar.. or maybe he made valid points that you can't argue so you look for a simple way to dismiss it.

[Raiden]

WAIT!!!!!!
Did someone really compared God of War developers and the time given to them by Sony comparing it to a 3rd party that were given millions and nothing to show for it. More time is more money, was the gaming looking like it was be a seller, was the story line deep enough, there are many ways this game could've been worst and a big flop, money on Development money on publishing and money on ads, that's millions more on a up that might not sell, Phil made judgement call right or wrong he looking down the line, it's sad as I was looking forward to the game, I hope that they do continue to work on it, maybe get 343i create it.

[_-EDMIX-_]

LMFAO!

Spencer like "your hype killed it, you wanted new games too much, you KNOW we don't make new game a lot if ever, your fault for wanting new games" - P.Spencer

[MrCrabPuss]

Spencer is accountable to more than Spencer.

[LackTrue4K]

Will this be the same fate with the Xbox one X?
🤔
😂

[Ceaser9857361]

I can understand how it feel when an exciting games get cancelled.. But good to know they have renewed the license of the game so it will happen.... Xbox lacks exclusive and MS needs to invest more on that..
I respect this Phil guy he did make Xbox a lot better and prolly one of those reason i got a xbox one and will get the X... I am more of a Playstation guy but i feel xbox is an amazing brand and it needs few new ips ...

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Honestly as a fellow og x1 owner what exactly has Phil done to make Xbox better. He's not invested in any first party studios,he hasn't invested in exclusives,he's cancelled three games and closed down a long time fan favorite studio with lion head and he's backpedaled and flip flopped on so many stances it's hard to keep count anymore. I'm sorry I just don't see how people can treat Phil as some xbox savior I mean is he less shit then the last guy most def but shit is still shit

[Ceaser9857361]

dark knightmare

I agree but who knows Phil's hand are tied.. i am more pissed with MS then Xbox division.. MS does all the shit decision making .. I bet its becoz of MS , Phil cant spread his wings in Japan...

[RiPPn]

@Dark_Knightmare2, some have given him credit for some of the policies and features implemented like refunds, backward compatibility, cross play, etc. I personally think these things are just a product of competition handing them their behinds.. in a parallel universe where Xbox is leading by over 2 - 1 with a base of 60 million to the competition being under 30 million, do we see any of these things..? We'll never know.

[DarXyde]

Actually...I think he knows exactly what he's saying.

It's a matter of if you believe him or not.

[MegamanXXX]

Amen to that

[joab777]

Yeah. Some of the things he has said this week are very odd.

[RiPPn]

This week seems to be Phil's heel turn.. he isn't coming off very well to the community, I even see Xbox fans starting to question their god emperor.

Really it probably has more to do with the amount of damage control they are doing after their poor showing on first party and new IP and badly pricing their new hardware. The odd thing is he usually sends his goons, Nelson and Greenberg, to so his dirty work.. guess he thought he could do a better job..

[rainslacker]

Maybe he's giving up on pandering, and secretly trying to present the truth. Possibly a Karmic effect where he has to balance out all the PR spin he has to do to sell the Xbox itself. A game killed by hype? I'm curious where this overwhelming hype was. There were people looking forward to it, but it wasn't like it was one of the most anticipated games out there. I'd say Halo and Gears were more hyped, and some feel they failed to deliver, so why weren't they cancelled?

I'm curious what aspects of the game couldn't be delivered. Wonder how much of that was part of the original design. Wonder what resources were moved to make things happen the way MS promoted it. I still wonder about certain aspects of this, but at the same time, this comment from Spencer is really dumb. Maybe by hype he means that the game couldn't deliver on it's promises or design....which is understandable as it happens, but Phil specifically mentions announcing it too soon, thus it sounds like he's referring to the cancellation being the result of trying to save face. Maybe they didn't want their own "No Mans Sky", and felt the expectations for the game were as high as they were for that game. I think Phil greatly misunderstood just how much hype surrounded this game. It had people interested, but not on the edge of their seats waiting for any bit of info on the game.

[trooper_]

That he is.

[EatCrow]

Brave_Losers is an idiot.

Pressure is real. A team can crack under pressure and it can affect the development cycle.
How many years did it need? Huh? How many? 5? 8? And at what point does it matter if they dont have a solid game? after 3 years? 2?

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

He is not, he is a liar and a hypocrite but and Idiot? would an Idiot have so many sheep following him blindly?

...

...

I just realized Trump is president, Forget my question.

[Relientk77]

Put another quarter in the "Stupid things Phil Spencer says" Jar

[XanderZane]

Jim Ryan is an idiot. A lot of fanboys on here are idiots. *meh*
See, everyone has an opinion on everyone else. No one cares about your opinions or mine.

[BG11579]

Phil Spencer hyped this game more then anyone else.
Now, he's saying that hype killed this game ?! No MS killed this game, not hype.

[Mithan]

Come on. If the game was any good, they would have released it. A few video clips are not indicative of the game's quality.

[rainslacker]

Seriously. Why make the game to fans expectations. You make a game based on the design documents, then inform the consumer about what they're getting. Sometimes a game does get way too many expectations put on it, and it ends up being a problem, but the expectations for Scalebound were not so hyped up by anyone to such a great degree that I feel it couldn't meet them. Only way it couldn't was if MS misrepresented the product.

Not a whole lot was shown of the game, and most of the official comments about it were fairly vague. People wanted a dragon game from Platinum. What couldn't be achieved with that expectation?

In the end, Scalebound was killed by Spencer or MS in general. Hype had nothing to do with it. That's the dumbest reason to kill a project.

But, lets look at this in perspective. There are people here who say it's P*'s fault this game got cancelled.

What Spencer is saying here is that they failed at the marketing of the game, thus killed it to avoid looking bad. Spencer said MS raised the expectation level so high but didn't know if the studio could achieve the original design document....or was it that they couldn't achieve any changes that MS made? Who's at fault for raising expectations to unreasonable levels, or even marketing a game before you know if the dev can deliver? Or was it that MS kept adding expectations to the design because they promoted things which weren't in the original design, and it got to a point where the dev couldn't deliver.

Guess it's good for the gamers that MS didn't lose face in their screw up I guess.

My God, the stuff coming out of Spencer this week is just laughable. It's like he doesn't realize his hypocrisy, or that he doesn't realize how he just makes MS or himself look incompetent.

[Rimeskeem]

Spencer is quickly proving he doesn't understand anything

[Tussin187]

He needs to just quit talking so much. The more he talks the more he digs himself in a hole.

[Rude-ro]

Has to talk because he has nothing to show off.
They truly looked like a company that wants a cut of the market and nothing like game developers.
Two full years of cloud talk was all they had...
Release a powerful console and all they have is forza 6 remastered for the x and stuck a 7 on it.

[yeahright2]

@ rude, I dunno about that, I saw them show off a nice looking Porsche.

[rainslacker]

Sometimes, silence is golden.

He seems to hell bent on addressing every criticism lobbed at MS, as if all those need to be addressed. I think he needs to take a cue from almost everyone else in the industry and be more reserved in addressing the community.

I applaud him, and even MS execs in general for engaging with the community, but I came to understand a while ago why most devs do not do such a thing. It's because when you engage in the wrong way, or too often, you're going to end up losing.

[sk8ofmnd]

I actually thought he was a stand-up guy at first and now im to the point where i cant even stand his smirk face... On the inside its like hes saying "yeah i know im full of shit but ive got a job to do".

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Yeah I agree. I liked him at first and was hoping he'd turn things around and eventually I'd be interested in owning and Xbox One but here we are and I'm less interested than ever. If anything, Scalebound would've been a reason I'd get one.

[UltraNova]

He works for MS for crying out loud..wake up people.

[DarXyde]

UltraNova,

I think Microsoft just needs another Peter Moore. That dude was aggressive and knew what he was doing.

[yeahright2]

Maybe he was, but he has bosses just like the rest of us and they're probably giving him marching orders.

[MrCrabPuss]

"yeah i know im full of shit but ive got a job to do". No shit. <--- This is the enchanting side big business, especially when fronting PR to countless idiots who still choke on Lego. Spencer is not the consumer's buddy or pal, uncle or confidant. He's a guy with rules he needs to follow and is required to do under the watchful eye of MS.
Spencer doesnt get to say whatever the f*k he wants out there. Why dont people realize this?

[houyi111]

He understand things just fine. He stated before the cancellation is good for us gamers..Now you see the whole story: 1.we hype the game too much, so 2. he has to cancel the game for our own good... why can you understand this.../s

[rainslacker]

Phils comment does reek more of MS trying to save face as opposed to just something good for the gamers. Im not sure how MS looking good is good for the gamers. MS screws up, and we don't get a game because their ego won't allow them to have their own No Man's Sky situation. Seems that's what they were trying to avoid, so threw away millions of dollars, ended up disappointing those excited for it anyways, and mostly walk away unscathed as their fans go on about how P* screwed up, or diverted funds to Nier, or some other such nonsense.

What's sad is this game was Kamiya's dream game. The game he's been building in his head for god knows how long. He was given a chance to make it, and then the IP gets stripped away from him because MS cancelled it. All because MS can't handle how it marketed the game.

[MrCrabPuss]

The children blaming Spencer for this decision are the ones who dont understand anything. Its wasnt his decision to make, even a semi conscious drooling idiot should be capable of realizing this fact.

[notachance]

are you an idiot? never been a head figure in a corporation?

Unless MS's heads decide to directly interfere, THE head of xbox division is the one who has the final say. That's what it means to lead a division. Are you seriously thinking that Phil is only a spokeperson for some shadow figures making the decision behind the scene? What are you twelve?

For most occasion, the only thing that's outside your control within a division you're leading is budget. What usually happens is you're given a budget and you're given the freedom to choose what to do with it, all the detailed decision making within must be made or acknowledged by the head.

You think the various MS chief officers or MS's major stakeholders you rabid fanboys so readily blame have the time to chip in and directly override Phil's authority for a mere decision of either continuing to develop a game or not? If you can't see the childishness of that logic you seriously must've never get a glimpse on how the higher corporate position works

Son, if all Phil have to do is parroting orders from higher-ups there's no point in making him a HEAD. That position exists exactly because your so-called 'higher ups' need someone to lead and make decisions regarding that particular division.

[FallenAngel1984]

Spencer still tryin to find reasons for the game's cancellation I see

He becomes even more of a shill with each passing season

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed.

He legit needs to stop answering questions about this game and move on. The more he keeps talking about it, the worst it gets.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Digging the hole deeper -_-

[UCForce]

Ok, what ? I don't believe that nonsense.

[SpaceRanger]

Killed by hype? What the heck is he talking about?

Does he mean the hype they pushed for last year??

[simplydark]

You guys should now feeling with No man's sky

[UCForce]

True, but No Man Sky got massive update and still supporting by Hello Games. After all, Hello Games want redemption.

[MagicBeanz]

Oh look someone managed to bring No Mans Sky into the conversation, insecure deflection is easier then dealing with the cancellation of one of your consoles most anticipated games I guess.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I mean....at least you can actually play No Man Sky lol

Its a thing.

It can be fixed.

Scalebound is nothing, its gone...

[tyasia0]

Hey for better or worse at least NMS got released.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Lol not even the same thing but way to be a fanboy and bring up something totally unrelated to the article.

[trooper_]

1. No Man's Sky didn't get cancelled.
2. The developers had the balls to continue improving the game, despite the ridiculous backlash.
3. Terrible analogy.

[rainslacker]

@Magic

But maybe that had something to do with it. Spencer seems to imply that they couldn't deliver on what was promised. That was basically what happened with NMS. So basically, MS didn't want its own NMS situation, and instead just wrote off tens of millions of dollars. All for their ego. All for their mistakes in marketing the game. All because they couldn't reconcile the issues that may have been present in the development of the game.

NMS released despite the egos and their mistakes in marketing. It eventually grew to be something better. It wasn't bad for gamers, or at least not all of them. Spencer looked out more for MS than he did for the gamers.

[Gazondaily]

Read the article 😂

[UCForce]

Doesn't matter. It shouldn't have cancelled in the first place.

[Gazondaily]

Right but....read the article?

[Veneno]

No one has as much time as you To try so hard to justify everything Microsoft does.

[Gazondaily]

Lmao no one wants to read the article. Riiiight.....

[rainslacker]

I read it, and you can get the whole jist of the article from the description here on N4G.

[TheColbertinator]

Spencer doing everything possible to stain the name of Platinum Games whose expertise among the staff stretches back to the golden age of gaming.

Back then I swore up and down for Clover and the successor Platinum Games. Brilliant games like Okami and Bayonetta were among the best, years before Phil Spencer was anybody to gamers.

[tyasia0]

Phil "it's everyone's fault but mine" Spencer

[Zeke68]

Phil "the lie-di-" Spencer

[Tussin187]

Sounds familiar like someone else that's always in the news. Can't think of their name.....

[ElementX]

The game looked like crap. It suddenly becomes popular because it was cancelled. People who thought this game was any good were delusional, expecting it to blow everybody away. There wasn't any chance of it being well received

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

All of the games stage demos of Scalebound, were very sub-par, poor framerates, despite all the delays.

[AcidDvl]

It looked boring and uninspired.

You could feel the amount of restraint that Microsoft put on Platinum with their demands like co-op, hip main character and other features that didn't fit the setting.

[UCForce]

Well, they could polish the game without cancelled it. At E3 2016, I thought the demo was much better than gamescom 2015.

[Obscure_Observer]

@UCForce

Unbelievable!

When Sony did the same thing with Santa Monica´s AAA Open World Sci-fi game while laying off hundreds of people you guys said nothing of the sorts!

Hypocrisy reached a new low

[UCForce]

@Obscure_Observer True, but they didn't close down like Lionhead Studio. I do aware that Sony Closed Evo and Cambridge, but they have finished their game. Also, MS and Lionhead have bad relationships. Sony closed down Liverpool Studio, but take a look at Wipeout Omega Collection meaning Sony want to pay tribute to Liverpool.

[UCForce]

@WeebLord What About Fable Legend ? The game got cancelled completely.

[moegooner88]

@Obscure_Observer

What does your comment have to do with UFCorce reply ? Game studios close all the time, and games gets cancelled as well, but you don't find those in charge making ridiculous comments like Phil. Trying too hard you poor thing to deflect from this. You are right though, your hypocrisy did reach a new low. Try again

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Time?
Money?

I guess you've never contracted someone to work for you and after seeing their work were like naw I don't like this I'm moving on.

Or maybe a girlfriend. Becky refuses to eat better and won't lose weight. So you wait 3,4,5,6, 10 years hoping she figures it out so you don't have to leave her. But after. So many years and so many promises you realize you just wasted your time and there is no reason to continue with her.

[OB1Biker]

@Obscure
'Sony did the same thing with Santa Monica´s AAA Open World Sci-fi game '
The game had no existence. It's was a project that was never announced. There are many of those from all studios

It's not like it was part of the best line up in history for two years and the a few months before announced release Spencer goes like 'hoh sht! Too much hype. Cancel'

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I thought it looked awesome. It was the only reason I would've considered getting an Xbox One.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

This plays into the Xbox has no exclusives, Phil killed the exclusives narrative from he Sony fans. The truth is scalebound was an embarrassing product from Kamiya and lacked polish, solid performance, etc etc. it was a bad concept all around....fake generic Dante looking white kid and a giant Dragon. Now it's the greatest game to never have released according to Sony fans.

Meanwhile, Phil has cross play working with Nintendo, the most powerful console, a very consumer friendly Xbox Live Service, backwards compatibility across three generations....and Sony they have all the big exclusives as their fans like to brag about but now Sony is trying to exert more dominance is signing contracts to throttle performance, are anti cross play, are pushing hard for paid BC through PS NOW and more remasters.

[Bennibop]

Sony have had crossplay with PCs for years FFXIV and Rocket league and more, Microsoft has only just joined that party, they just don't want crossplay with there main console rival.

[tyasia0]

Hmm I remember things differently. I remember Xboners constantly listed it in the upcoming games lists talking about how good it was going to be and how Sony fans wished they had it... That was until it was canceled then it sucked and they never wanted it and they never planned on buying it.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Yes thank you lol you just helped proved my comment a few spots up lol thank you

[JasonKCK]

What's amazing is how many in here got what he said wrong.

[MorpheusX]

@JasonKCK

Uhm How so?

Ah a blanket statement w/o an explanation.... smh.

[gangsta_red]

None of them actually read the article.

It's okay though, reading the comments is funny enough.

[Godmars290]

Still, like the apparent out of nowhere cancellation, showing it off too early was on him.

[Bennibop]

Yes we all read that the game was announced to early and that he would like to work with Platinum in the future. Does not change the fact there is very little on the exclusive front on xbox or that the game was lauded as part of the 'greatest lineup in history of xbox'

The problem is the Phil and Microsoft keep making huge claims and ending up with egg on their faces, 'greatest line up in history', 'Power of the cloud', 'True4k' etc

[JasonKCK]

"Yes we all read that the game was announced to early and that he would like to work with Platinum in the future."

Yeah! The second time.

[TheOttomatic91]

If by "hype" you mean forced multiplayer microtransactions then ya I agree with you.

[bluefox755]

How about just be honest about what happened instead of some ambiguously trite excuse?

[Yui_Suzumiya]

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!

[CaptainObvious878]

That would go against MS's very core.

[jokerisalive]

He should have let them finish the game the way they had envisioned it without micro transactions and online focus which is propably the route MS wanted them to go. Live and let live Phil now we lost a cool game.

[sk8ofmnd]

😂 does this guy ever stfu.

Annd the best comment so far goes to...

Spaceranger 😎

Xbox fans better not hype the little 1st partys they have or it will be canceled 😬

[ziggurcat]

What?? Hype for the game killed it? That makes no sense.

[gangsta_red]

Psssst...read the article.... ;)

[UCForce]

But doesn't mean he should have cancel it in first place. It would be huge comeback for Microsoft and Japanese Gamers.

[ziggurcat]

Psssst...I did.... and announcing a game "too early" is still not anything that makes sense.... ;)

[gangsta_red]

Pssssssssssst...but that's not the whole reason as the actual interview from Phil states.

Also, here's the original FULL interview...you read japanese right?

http://game.watch.impress.c...

Here's another snippet from Duelshockers where this site stole the actual story from a story from.

"However since the announcement was too early, it created pressure, influenced development, and raised the hurdles on the way to the goal. As a result, this created a situation in which both companies were in doubt on whether the game could offer what the fans wanted. Due to that, it was decided to discontinue Scalebound‘s development."

http://www.dualshockers.com...

[ziggurcat]

Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssst....announcing a game "too early" isn't an excuse to cancel a game, and it makes zero sense why that would cause the game's cancellation. How many games announced on PS4 have been "too early", and even delayed despite being announced "too early", yet they made it out to consumers just fine? Saying that it created pressure, etc... is total BS.

[gangsta_red]

PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!!

"...announcing a game "too early" isn't an excuse to cancel a game,"

It is when the game hasn't started even half of it's development, keeps being pushed back or doesn't meet necessary requirements or any other behind the scene issues that occurred with Scalebound.

With the information we have the game was not coming along properly as both teams would have liked. The footage shown was rough and it looked like it was not improving.
And because of this and anything else behind the scenes it was canceled.

So...don't you think that if production was started and these issues were caught early it could have been settled behind closed doors without all this attention that we are now seeing? Don't you think that by announcing this game way too early and then canceling as production went along is why we are here at this very point now?

"How many games announced on PS4 have been "too early","

Well this isn't sony now is it? And maybe this is the reason why he isn't announcing this too early anymore right?

How many other games have been announced and then canceled....Doom 4 was announced in 2004 and Quakcon...Canceled, even had footage.

Silent Hills had a great PT demo and was even featured at Sony's E3...canceled.

NBA Live 13 was announced and had footage and was ready to be released...canceled.

You get the point, every company cancels games even precious dear Sony. The problem that Phil is pointing out is that this game was announced too early and what was shown generated a lot of hype and the product that they had did not live up to the hype it was creating.

[dRanzer]

So you dont know what pressure is Phil
Sony 1party studio are always in pressure and makes amazing games

[InsaneChronos]

So now gamers are the ones who are responsible for the cancellation of Scalebound? What?

[MrCrabPuss]

IMO it was killed by the wheelbarrows worth of tacky and cliche' concepts.

[MagicBeanz]

Welcome to the world of gaming Phil.

[Tedakin]

I never thought it looked that great. The dude was literally just Dante, to a point it was almost copyright infringement. Gameplay seemed ok. Just my 2 cents!

[Eldyraen]

Did anyone actually visit the original article and translate it from Japanese? I'm surprised this guy could piece any of it together for those 2 word quotes he used to judge Spencer's mind on.

I liked what I saw of Scalebound (most anticipated Xbox game probably) but we never really saw anything but a small open world segment and one multiplayer boss fight. It's possible that development wasn't going that well behind the curtains as we had zero idea of what the story was still. Some dude with headphones befriends a dragon and fights monsters and soldiers in fantasy armor. That is the entire premise we were ever presented with and nothing else ever came out about it.

I was hoping it would go somewhere but even so I had no idea what this game was really about besides you could kill stuff with a dragon. And we had almost 3 years of that being the only thing we ever really heard on it.

[DrumBeat]

Spencer is quickly becoming the next Don Mattrick.

[tyasia0]

Actually Don Mattrick brought the games. Most of the games that have come out and are still waiting to be released actually started under Mattrick.

Mattrick was the fall guy for the original Xbox one vision (though who knows how much was actually his fault). But the truth was at least he was focused on bringing games unlike Spencer which has canceled more games and studios in his short time then ever before in Xbox history and created almost no new IP.

I think aside from the bad Xbox start Mattrick would have made a better leader for the brand.

[Testfire]

So its our fault?

[AmUnRa]

Yes dont you know?? Microsoft killed it, then they read all the comments blaming Microsoft for it. And Microsoft is blaming the gamers for pulling the stop out of the game??
You bad bad gamers, You killed of this game, dont blame us, its you gamers who killed it. 😇😇

[InTheZoneAC]

I thought M$ always announces games 3-4 years out?

Where's crackdown?

[Discobastrd]

EXCLUSIIIIIIIVE

[VersusDMC]

I'm guessing that the 4 player multiplayer mode they showed was mandated by Microsoft and platinum couldn't handle it and it derailed the whole thing.

Or kamiya had another meltdown. Kamiya did have to redo Re2 from scratch after a failed first attempt and Devil May Cry only exists because his version of RE4 went off the rails. He didn't have a producer with backbone like Mikami to bail him out this time.

[GrmpyolGamer]

The fact that platinum games were taking MS money for Scalebound and using it to develop AA games for other platforms probably had something to do with it. Platinum wanted a chance to make a big AAA blockbuster game. MS gave them that chance and they blew it. Hence why MS will never partner with platinum again and why platinum games will forever be religated to AA niche titles

[Bennibop]

He is quoted in the article saying that he would like to work with Platinum in the future.
Please don't go around talking sh%t

[rainslacker]

Wow....P* did something illegal and that's why the game got cancelled? Seems MS would go to court over that. At the very least an agreement would be made with P* to pay them back to avoid legal proceedings, and such a thing would have to be disclosed to their investors, and it hasn't been, so seems your accusation is baseless. Nier was funded by Square Enix. P* had no reason to divert funds to that game because it had it's own production. This isn't some Aliens -> Borderlands scandal where Borderlands was produced by the developer directly.

[Hotabang]

How can you blame hype lmao. Then stop your marketing, stop hyping Xbox one x stop hyping anything u make or else all will be canceled.

[Doomeduk]

Every time the guy opens his mouth he digs himself a bigger hole ,surprised he doesn't go on to mention minecraft in 4k at this point ,could have that as dlc ,a big massive crater and in the bottom good old Phil with a shovel and you could have the same shovel for a small micro transaction of £5.00 .

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Man the negative backlash from fans and critics of their e3 conference must have phils panties all in a twist since he's been saying some dumb shit the last two days lol

[EmperorDalek]

I still don't think Platinum Games were capable of making a game as big as Scalebound.

You look at games like vanquish, Bayonetta, and even Nier, and they aren't anything close to the size that Scalebound would need to be. The fact that it was cancelled after being shown multiple times, and over three years.... to me, is proof. Nier was announced and released in a much shorter timeframe, so I think SB was just too big for them.

[Xack]

I wonder how many other devs/pubs/execs have thought they announced their game too early

[Max-Zorin]

Phil Spencer gotta go. All he did was cancel games, close studios, and kiss Sony's ass, this gen.

[JokerBoy422]

So instead of leading the team to meet these possible expectations, we just went ahead and cancelled yet another good exclusive game!

[trooper_]

Is he for real?

[TheTony316]

Microsoft killed Scalebound.

[Artemidorus]

No it we're killed by an executive order. Microsoft are digging that hole deep.

Nothing like a fake salesman pushing for that item to go....

[RiPPn]

Over hype killed the video game..
Over hype killed the video game..
At E3 they showed a car, they can't take risks they've got no star..
Spencer came and broke your heart..
Put down the blame on anything..

[Elda]

LMAO! What a joke! The one game I thought was interesting coming to the XBO.

[Elda]

Phil is slowly killing XB.

[thexmanone]

Yea ok, if you say so

[Aenea]

Awwwww, yeah, it was the hype that did it, pfft...

Lame excuse.....

[DivineAssault]

No.. They killed a reason for me to support them

[Jivesh]

LOL, this guy...

[C-H-E-F]

Lmao, really Spencer, why do Microsoft think it's okay for him to answer questions at this point? He's no less of a liar sack of sh!t than his predecessor lOl. TBH atleast they had exclusives before he came on board lord ham mercy. And Scalebound was hyped up, by Microsoft, Microsoft announced that 5% finished game to the world not the people. Ahahaha.

[Godmars290]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!!!

Waking up to some belly busters today!

Though seriously - *chuckle* - by rumor the Scalebound being shown, apparent target renders, looked nothing like the actual game. Add that to the issue of forcing MP onto it and maybe it makes sense that MS killed it after promoting it for so long and likely too early.

[Chexs1990]

Did that idiot just blame us gamers for the cancellation? The hell...

[Saijahn]

it's called delaying the game...put it out when it's ready, not when forced by fans excitement. It was an interesting looking game though.

[super_cuddles]

Ms, here guys have some money, make us a sweet game. Devs, uh what kinda game? Ms, I dunno, dragons n junk.
Ms, people of the world, best game eveeeeerrrrr.
Devs, uh, we brought Ferraris
Ms *damage control*

[AmUnRa]

And yes people here we have the head of the Xboxdivision, give him an explosive applaus:
Phill Spinning Spencer. Please Phil, 🤐🤐

[CP_Company]

there are few things to think about.
1.you release the game,the game is mediocre,you get critique,you learn from it,you got a platform from which you can bounce back and create very good game.you can look at watch dog,knack,assassins creed,and there is plenty of them.
2.you build a hype,you release the game,even if it is mediocre,the hype going to push it forward and you get profit.look at destiny,the game is totally mediocre,hype pushed it well,and there are more plenty of them.
so either way you can win by releasing the game.

what phil suggest is just another bull$hit,he has no brains.

[rainslacker]

Thats what Sony did with The Order as well. Although I think given more time it could have lived up to expectations. Sony pushed it out early.

[Nodoze]

Um really? No. Sad to say it was holding sway for me to consider the Xbox (I LOVE Platinum). That said it is unfortunate it has been cancelled.

Now I am starting to hear rumblings about Mistwalker...Make it happen. Also where are the remasters of their old titles??

[daBUSHwhaka]

Never before have I heard so much pish.Hype killed the game.Ha Ha that's low even for Spencer.Chap can be a little bit of a buffoon.

[feraldrgn]

Ah of course, blame your userbase.

[ShwaaMan]

He really annoys me

[Razzer]

Spender talks too much. He is becoming the Donald Trump of gaming.

[Good-Smurf]

Whatever fits your X fantasy,Mr. Phil Scammer.

[Miss_Weeboo]

The only hype this game had, was that we wanted it to be... just exist... But you shut it down, you killed it.

[brewin]

This game looked like trash, plain and simple. You trolls just look for any excuse to try and tame any hype that gets built for the Xbox brand. Its like you guys are paid by Sony or something. I love platinum games too. How many of you actually played wonderful 101 or bayonetta 2? Those were Wii u exclusives that many P games fans didn't play because they're Sony drones and refuse to play anything if it isn't on the platform of their corporate overlords. Even Kamiya was not happy with how the game was turning out. And if it was gonna be such a great game, why hasn't it resurfaced at all? Why didn't platinum self publish or try to get another publisher?! Cuz it was trash, that's why.

[MilkMan]

Love you Spence, but you're full of caca on this one.

[BassMan125]

Nonsense. That is the worst excuse. No wonder Kamiya is pissed and left the project, MS treated him like shit. Good luck getting another Japanese Devs to develop games on Xbox One X.

[ocelot07]

Yer Xbox fans it was all your fault for actually looking forward to a game. How could you do that to xbox and Phil? Now they had to cancel the game because you liked what you saw of it /s

The worse thing about this some people are going to defend Phil Spencer on this.

[corroios]

Nope, it was killed by you and your week strategy. A bit more power wont make a diference, but amazing games Will. Phil you are so lost, by the end of the tear even the switch will sold more then the xbox

[leoms]

The supposed Xbox messiah at it again.

[LAWSON72]

Spencer you really need to stop talking.

When Scalebound is mentioned you are better off acting like the Xbox Youtube channel and forget it even existed.

[modelgod]

This is a very troubling statement. Your telling me that they collapsed under the pressure of fam expectation? That's a weird comment to make.

[modelgod]

Ohhh....so hype and expectation Is the reason why we saw no good exclusives at E3, oh ok, now it makes perfect sense!!

[gamer7804]

i would have loved to have seen scale bound and fable legends at e3 this year, having played fable legends i can confirm that its MUCH better than Sea of Thieves currently. Sea of Theives should absolutely be free to play. They have major work to do on that game.

[BSD289]

All games get announced too early these days. I'm already bored of them before they even release!
This game NEVER had that much hype anyway, it looked janky, like it should have come out on the dreamcast.

[Discobastrd]

EXCLUSIIIIIVE hype

[Moe-Gunz]

Well gamers made him out to be a savior. You all forgot he was the head of MS studios prior to being the head of Xbox. He didn't have a great track record there either. Now people are mad saying he's not investing in 1st parties or as the apologist say "he hasn't had enough time". He was running MS Studios he wasn't investing then so stop thinking it'll be different now, and he had more than enough time.

People act like he was an outside hirer or something. He has a past history that some seem to forget.

[medman]

No Phil, Scalebound was killed by you. Lay the blame where it belongs.

[ryuuzakibjorn]

It wasn't killed by hype, It was killed by Microsoft.

You're welcome. _Captain Obvious leaves the planet_

[yeahright2]

The rumor I heard was they gave it the axe because they wanted it to be more multiplayer focused and platinum wanted to keep it as much single player as possible. Grain of salt though. In just heard that while watching theknow's youtube channel. don't know how credible their sources are.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

Hype? Hype Spencer? is that his new nickname?

Funny, Hype only helped Uncharted outsell any xbone exclusive ever. But in MS hype kills games. SMH

[UltimateRacer]

Hype would/should make a developer more excited to deliver a quality experience but what really killed this game was Spencer and MS because they only care about there own pockets not the fans and it shows, MS have completely messed up from 2013 to now and continue to do so, couldn't even get the X right.

[Brohan]

Spencer is right on this, when you have a group of people under pressure about a project because of hype it would effect the work involved.

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

Hype doesn't kill a game.

[Segata]

What a moron. It had hardly any hype because MS barely showed it. They would go long periods of being quiet about it. It skipped E3 2015.

[Brash]

On this episode of kids say the darnest things

[LOCO209]

Seems like they may be leading the xbox brand the same way ...
Destroying it with hype and faulty PR.

Enough excuses we are too far into this gen for any more excuses.

[MrCrabPuss]

What do you want to bet Mr. Nadella has just a tiny itsy-bitsy shred of input about what happens in this division because after all HE IS THE F'N CEO, but go ahead, keep shooting the messenger you prepubescent imbeciles.
As I said before, Spencer is accountable to more than Spencer, but of course the ignorant just cant seem to understand the vast world of the adult. The only idiots here are the ones calling out Spencer for this decision.

[brich233]

no phil, u killed it.

[DaGreatOne]

Basically I read it as they announce the game too early and they felt this pressure deliver on a timely manner. Didn't feel that was gonna happen and canceled.

[Scatpants]

I'm guessing it was killed by sucking. I bet in all the play tests everyone hated it and they decided it would be too difficult to fix the problems. The gameplay they showed looked cool maybe they were just badly behind schedule and over budget.

[MrCrabPuss]

Im sorry, I didnt know Mr.Spencer was the CEO of MS......oh right, he isnt the CEO. Its my understanding Spencer is accountable to his BOSS and aaall the way up the chain to the CEO. Hmm, I must be mistaken, because everyone else here seems to think otherwise.

Next big board meeting Spencer should march, no, barge right into head office unannounced, bang his fist on the giant table and tell, no, demand from his boss(es) whats actually going to happen because his best buddy-pals the gamers want this game.......this undoubtedly flawed game that clearly wasnt making the grades.
Sound plan.

Imbeciles and Idiots will blame whoever is put in front of them regardless of the blatant facts presented. 99% of this thread is exactly this.

[UltraAtomic]

I am not really too upset. I didn't like what I saw at gdc. Looked soo choppie at the revel and I am not a big fan of jrpgs. If I was a fan, I would have a ps4. Plain and simple. However I am super excited for sea of theves and can't wait to play that game.

[UltraAtomic]

People can say what they want about Spencer, but from where xbox was at, he's done an awesome job to bring the xbox brand back on track to where it used to be. soo to the ps4 owners.Worrie about your own console and xbox owners worrie about ours. We have a feedback program where we can actually give feedback on how there doing. I can't say the same for you guys but never the less. 2 different echo systems.

[maybelovehate]

From what I have read, this seems pretty accurate. The director of the game went a bit crazy, had to take medical leave because of the pressure. They didn't feel they could pull off their vision. Understandable, I am sure we have all been in that situation where we have bitten off more than we can chew.

[inxine]

what the actual fuck? philly, buddy, whatever it is ur taking, stop. please.

[Knightofelemia]

I was stoked for this game form the trailer I saw on Youtube this game looked great then Microsoft pulled the plug on it.

[bigmalky]

Scalebound was killed by the same means every good developer's games are killed working for Microsoft, I would imagine. Instead of leaving devs to make games, they push their input and project stupid deadlines to compete with the competition so they can make money faster.

EA did the same. Buy dev teams, then have suits who don't 'get' creative freedom crack whips until the good devs leave and the leftovers conform to creating stale, repetitive IPs, with microtransactions, tons of DLC, and a conveyor belt of yearly/2 year sequels with little vision. If not, they shut you down or sack the actual talented developers... See Bioware.

This is why there are a distinct lack of first party teams, creating games for XoX and why publishers are doing more deals with Sony every year. It's not about power, it's about how the company paying you shows you respect as an artist.