PlatinumGames seems ready to finish Scalebound, and if Microsoft follows through with them, it would be a big boon for the Xbox Series X gen.
Why this criminally underrated shooter should share the spotlight with Platinum’s finest.
They should be working to getting games out on a timely matter not adding more games to the pile. I used to be a big fan of Platinum but their game turn out rate is atrocious these days. The games I want are no where to be seen and what is releasing is retro looking games no one asked for. I'm all for retro style games but not at the cost of bigger games sitting on the back burner for years at a time.
PlatinumGames wants to bring Scalebound back, and Microsoft should listen.
“Excitement” and “interest” in Scalebound seemed to only occur after it was canceled… However, IO interactive is rumoured to be developing a game involving Dragons for Xbox Studios. So maybe IO Interactive’s title could be branded as Scalebound.
I agree. The game looked terrible. People only got upset because it's cancellation was a dig at Microsoft but I was with them on this one. Better to cancel a game then release a bad one. Then again someone might have liked it. I don't speak for everyone.
Personally was looking forward to it prior to cancellation. It looked a little rough/janky, but it was still very early in development, so i figured it would improve before launch.
I think the cancellation was a smart move. The main character looks cool, like Nero from "Devil May Cry 4," but the gameplay looked so boring I was yawning.
I like platinum as a dev but let's be honest they were doing their low tier work on the game which they're notorious for. They'll either do S tier perfection work or they'll do whatever to just get by for the contract they have. Maybe that's changed but they were doing low tier for microsoft and microsoft called them out on it and cancelled the project. I don't blame microsoft one bit for doing that. It was basically a whatever project for platinum while they worked on the other game at the time, i forget which one it was but it was just miles better.
Microsoft already owns the IP, has the design docs, and has a playable build. Hand the project off to an internal team or another 3rd party.
Why give a second chance to a team that phoned in development and filtered their funds into other projects?
I like Platinum, but their management can be really shady.
In a chapter of the Kamiya Chronicles interview series by Cutscenes the Platinum Games director explains why Scalebound didn’t go the way it should’ve gone. During the interview he says sorry to Microsoft and the people who were looking forward to playing the game.
During the interview he says: “We weren’t experienced enough and couldn’t get over that wall, leading to what happened in the end.” and ”I’m sorry to Microsoft who had placed their trust in us as a business partner.”
It's tooo late, it's too late to apologiiiiiize, yeaaaaahhhh, I said it's too late to apologize
Why apologise though
It wasn’t a co-op game, Microsoft wanted it, the team wasn’t experienced enough so Microsoft should have let them do it their way, the way they planned it from the start
This. They could not deliver the game the way Microsoft wanted it, which as usual is the problem with MS, WAY too much oversight and push to include whatever trendy game mechanic is hot at the moment. If they had just let them make the game that Platinum wanted it probably would have been a hit .
Microsoft at that time in that gen was making artistic decisions using calculation.
This quarter 1 co-op, 1 shooter, 1 racer, 1 whatever etc if we cant get that, drag project to recycle bin.
Their launch calculation of games with tv shows was the funniest. You cant calculate audience desires, you can observe and make decisions after. Or lead with passion, Sony style.
Thats what happens.
"Why? Their the ones paying for the project. If you can’t deliver than pull the plug."
Which is all well and good to say, yet MS doesn't have a game. Aren't well known for making games or even creative development.
Given such evidence, their lack of 1st party, the need to buy pre-popular IPs to only then fail to further develop them such as the number of times Halo sans Bungie has faltered as a franchise, maybe - just maybe - it could be said that they're doing something wrong?
@Foxtrot:
Given that co-op was a much touted/wanted thing in the game, was ANY in game/story reason given for it? That Platinum never gave any reason - other than MS wanting it - speaks volumes of why they likely had issues making the game.
Still would have preferred to play this one over Crackdown 3. Can we get an apology for that one?
The game is far from great, but I find the outright hate for the game pretty overblown.
Just typical Japanese politeness and self depreciation. If Microsoft had been patient with the development process they could have had a surefire hit in their hands. A shame they pulled the plug on this ambitious project.
They were very patient. They just didnt like seeing their $$ going towards other projects.
As for pulling the plug, MS has everything PG worked on and could very well task one of their teams with finishing it. Who knows... maybe they are and that would be a pretty big surprise if they did.
And yet... Team Xbox were fine with wasting their time with buying Mixers and streamers and entering an industry that is SO clear to already have someone with a monopoly on it... They were fine wasting money on Crackdown 3 and its tech, Were fine wasting their money and time on Kinect.. this entire thing was just a shame. MS could have absolutely pulled the reins in order to get the game where it needed to be and its evident as they own the game and whats been made but haven't revived the production.
Meh theyre not, they did the same to Level 5; reason why Level 5 never ever developed a game for their system again ...
Sephiroushin
Mad respect for Level-5 they kept their self-respect, unlike Kamiyama who is basically on his knees for a company who screwed him over.
Platinum should just do contracts for Sony and Nintendo and Square and other companies that will treat them with respect.
"We were working in an environment we werent used to"
"We lacked the necessary know-how"
"We weren’t experienced enough and couldn’t get over that wall"
"I'm sorry to Microsoft"
Blames Microsoft.... Why visit a news site just to make up your own?
Because he isn't wrong... not entirely anyways. You never get this problem when things are going well and things ONLY go well when BOTH sides are on the ball
@princeali
One has nothing to do with the other.
You may need both sides holding their own to make things go proper, but only one side to mess everything up.
Your reply is nonsensical. MS paid them for this game, but the dev continued to miss development milestones....all the while completing projects that were started that stsrted after their deal with MS. That's bad business. Full stop.
So who do I listen to?
Magog, or senior development leads who admitted the dev process was hell, and there was a lot of mismanagement in house at Platinum.
The guy does a whole interview and this is the only thing this she wants to talk about?
Let's be real, at the same time Microsoft was canceling this game they were canceling a bunch of other games and closing studios like Lionhead and Phil was on the press circuit saying thing like "We didn't want to compete with third parties, and we're only going to make the hardware" and then pretty much stopped game development for the rest of the generation until they started buying studios which is why most of those games are still years out
Let's see. It's going start raining and it won't end for months. You pay a contractor to start and finish your roof in 3 days. 2 weeks later your roof is not done, yet people who hired the contractor after you have their ropfs completed. Months later same story repeats. Would you keep waiting for this contractor?. This anology represents what the dev pulled with MS.
I don't know why he keeps apologizing, he just got caught up in Microsoft's wave of canceling games and closing studios. They should apologize to him.
You still never answered any onf my questions. Isntead you provided revisionist version of the specific happenings between MS and Plantinum. As aformentioned, MS has shoddy practices as well, this one wasn't o e of those cases.
@digital
They took money. Accepted milestones. Not only did they not meet the milestones on many occasions, but they actually focused efforts on other projects throughout its development; not the big, highly funded console exclusive you feel THEY deserve an apology for not making a priority and completing.
They admit management was a mess during development. They've come right out and said it was a much larger project than they assumed.
Microsoft gave them many chances, but it was a botched project that just kept bleeding time and money, so they cut their losses. If you really think that constitutes an apology on MS' end then, one, never go into business and ,two, well .... it's just an idiotic take.
You didn't answer my question...?
Whether he apologizes or not, they conducted bad business. Are you condoning devs not honoring their contracts?
Now onto MS, they have some shoddy practices as well. Those cases ha e nothing to do with this dev"s fumbled development of Scalebound.
They didn't "not honor" their contract, Microsoft pulled out of the contract. I would say Microsoft didn't honor their contract.
Let me give you an example...
A crew works on a project for months and months, then the contract holder gets cold feet and changes their mind about what they want because their product line isn't performing as well as they hoped, so management asks them to cut costs, so they make up some excuse and cancel your project or close your studio.
Does that sound familiar?
Kind of like what happened to Lionhead, Press Play, BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP, SOTA and cancled games like Project Spark, Fable and Scalebound a long with a rumored half dozen unnamed game projects that didn't get announced but were cancled all the same all around the same time.
Exactly, when MS was killing studios and projects left to right (2015-2017 ish), you had Uncle Phil coming out talking about how SP games (i.e. Horizon) were a thing of the past, an endangered species and how gamers only wanted MP experiences (despite the fact that his favorite Xbox game Recore is SP).
Now all of a sudden, SP focused games aren't going anywhere and very crucial to Xbox's future and success? GTFO.
@zw xbox market was clearly dictating that their money was in mp, those were their most succesful titles and argueably the reason they even became a real big player in the industry. they doubled down on that, and along with mangagement decisions that were bad and didnt work out they were falling behind at a rapid pace which they still suffer the effects from to this day. Then the market became oversaturated with (dull) mp experiences. So what would you do? would you stick to what you made a comment about a couple years back that the money is in the mp and drive your company into the ground, or would you try and adapt to the industry and save your company? Easy choise if you ask me. I dont get why you get so angry over a change in business strategy.
Platinum Games of late is chewing more than it can and that shows...they have not release a new title or any good title for a long time!
Their working on bayo 3 for next year and had Astral chain which had some great action in it. Maybe they haven't released anything your interested in
Nier Automata and Astral Chain were amazing games. Yes, 2017 and 2019 respectfully. The point is that it takes time to develop a good game. Even Call of Duty is on something like a 3 year development cycle considering the fact there are 3 developers all working on their own entry to the series. If I recall Assassins Creed is split amongst 2-3 developers as well. Then of course you have the gaps between say, a Naughty Dog, Insomniac, 343 studios, etc games that are generally 3-ish plus years.....
Now Platinum isn't perfect, they will and have failed but I'll take quality over quantity every day if they can continue delivering. And assuming Bayonetta drops next year that will be 3 years, I believe, since Astral Chain. not bad at all, again, considering the development games takes time. They're also working on Babylon's Fall for Square which should be out next year. I imagine they have other projects in the works and in pre-production as well as they've grown to a point of having more hands on deck; possibly.
If MS wants to finish it, they dont need PG to do it. They have plenty of other talent now vs before.
Makemit happen MS. You need a game like this as badly as you needed it last gen. Let’s see if they actually care enough to follow through.
This will be the blockbuster they are looking for...
Should have been a launch Title.