490°

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Drops the Axe on Scalebound Revival Rumors

Every once in a while, rumors and wishful thinking for the revival of Scalebound surface on the Internet. Xbox division head Phil Spencer clarified.

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Obscure_Observer1502d ago

Maybe for the best.

Money willl be better invested on new first party games

RazzerRedux1502d ago

Yeah....time to move on. I'm glad he put this to rest.

timotim1501d ago

I thought we already did with this one. Why he brought it back up, i don't know. I guess he was fishy for stories.

RazzerRedux1501d ago

I'm guessing the IGN guy's brought it up. I haven't watched the video yet.

indysurfn1501d ago

Did you guys read the article? First he lets you know he is talking about Microsoft studio, AND then Platnum games. Then he says: "We’re not working on it(microsoft dev team). I’m not at Platinum today but I’m almost positive they’re not working on it"

So only thing he legally confirmed is the Microsoft team is not working on it. How in the WORLD could he not know if Platinum is working on it or not? Sounds like a OUT/excuse for later. At least he didnt use the word PLAN this time.

RazzerRedux1501d ago

"Did you guys read the article? "

Did you? You missed a key part.

"It’s something we’ve all moved past, and it’s not a moment that I see as a high point for me in my role, having to cancel a game that we’ve talked about for years… But yeah, for the people out there that are kinda thinking that maybe there’s some things still in the works, there is not.”

This is Microsoft's game, not Platinum's. Platinum can "work" on whatever they want, but without Microsoft's permission, the game will never see the light of day.

L7CHAPEL1501d ago

Exactly.
it's not Gabe Newell remaining radio silent.
no one is working on it, and nothing is planned for the future.

kreate1501d ago

Just give Scalebound to Sony. MS just can't get right.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1501d ago
caddytrek1501d ago

No worries the work that was Scalebound became Gran Blue Fantasy Relink a PS4 exclusive.

https://youtu.be/pmuv40w07N...

FullDiveDerail1501d ago

yup, that game looks sick. It's funny when you see a game that you didn't know you needed

RedDevils1501d ago

Thats why xbox is a joke lol

FullDiveDerail1501d ago

The first party support is pretty lack luster. Gears 5 wasn't bad but a co op game from Platinum on this scale. What a shame. This looked amazing and they put out great game every single time. This was a bad move.

Ricegum1501d ago (Edited 1501d ago )

"Maybe for the best."

Actually it would have been best to have finished Scalebound development, a lot of people were looking forward to it and it was looking like a new killer IP for the Xbox One when they've had pretty much nothing all gen.

Judging by how far along in development the game was Microsoft must have lost a huge chunk of money by not getting it out the door.

Prubar1501d ago

How do you know it was any good? Did you have time with any of the demos?
Character action games are my favourite genre so I was extremely disappointed with the announcement but I bet you MS is way more disappointed. You know the company that spent shit tones of time, money and resources. The company that was hoping that it would spawn sequels and possibly become a franchise. If they say it wasn’t panning out mechanically
after that much loss I’m inclined to believe them. Who knows how much resources it would of needed to actually make a complete game.

Ausbo1501d ago

You must not have seen the demos where it was running at 10 FPS. Both Microsoft and platinum have said the game wasn’t working. The hardware couldn’t handle the vision

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1501d ago
BlackIceJoe1502d ago

I'm not sure if it is possible, plus most likely would cost an arm and a leg, but let Platinum do a crowd funding campaign for it. They just did The Wonderful 101, so they have no problem going that route and now if fans want Scalebound, they have to pay for it.

Obscure_Observer1502d ago

"let Platinum do a crowd funding campaign for it."

Would Sony allow RAD to do a crowd funding campaign for a new The Order game just because some fans want it?

GTgamer1502d ago

Well ready at dawn is owned by sony so they will be given another project by sony so I don't know how they'll find time to do a crowd funded project on the side but okayyyyyyyyyy.

RazzerRedux1501d ago

@GTgamer

Ready at Dawn is not owned by Sony. They are independent.

GTgamer1501d ago (Edited 1501d ago )

@RazzerRedux
I could of sworn sony owned them eh the more you know. either way sony owns the IP for the order so ready at dawn can't start a gofundme for it same goes for platinum and scalebound.

1501d ago
darthv721501d ago

PG owns W101... they don't own scalebound. They would have to buy it back from MS if they wanted to crowdfund its completion.

Loktai1501d ago

Ah yes the totally original PG crowdfund "Bound by scales"

Tekken666341502d ago (Edited 1502d ago )

Spencer - "“We’re not working on it. I’m not at Platinum today but I’m almost positive they’re not working on it."

Most likely the IP is tided to Platinum's decision on where to go with the title.
had they rejoined with spencer with anything new he would have said different.
till that moment arrives with anything new. but for the moment i'd say the IP is dead.

Obscure_Observer1502d ago

It´s a Microsoft IP, it´s their decision on what to make with it.

caddytrek1501d ago

Yes "Scalebound" is Microsoft's IP the work is Platinum's. Much like True Crimes was Activisions IP but Square Enix paid to continue the work United Front Games did and turned it into Sleeping Dogs.

RazzerRedux1502d ago

That is strange wording: "I’m almost positive they’re not working on it".

Obscure_Observer1501d ago

"That is strange wording:"

https://www.ign.com/article...

Not strange at all. Hard to know what Platinium is up to these days.

RazzerRedux1501d ago

"PlatinumGames says it would love to finish making its cancelled action-RPG Scalebound one day but would need Microsoft's permission to do so."

lol....that's exactly what makes it strange. Why would he say he is "almost positive"? Why even talk about what PG isn't "working on"? Perhaps there is some context in the conversation with IGN that is missing since I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. But that sentence as it is seems very strange.

Donnie811502d ago

What a waste of money. I’m sure plenty of people would have liked it if the game had worked out

NeoGamer2321501d ago

This one definitely cost a significant amount to cancel, but I would rather them cancel a bad game then ship it and try and market it as a good game.

The fact that they cancelled meant that there was still a lot of costs left to incur. Glad they took the money and decided to buy a bunch of really good first party developers.

Donnie811501d ago

You are definitely right. It’s a shame though game looked fun

rainslacker1501d ago (Edited 1501d ago )

They took almost four years to buy those devs. The money they saved on Scalebound was not put towards the new studios. businesses don't work 4 years in the future when making their budgets. If they saved money on the SB purchase, it got put back on the bottom line of that fiscal year, and the years they decided to buy new studios was a completely separate budget.

More likely scenario is that they had expended the money they had budgeted for SB, and it came time for a milestone and P* hadn't met it. P* likely required more money to continue, and MS thought that it wasn't going to happen with more money, or that they wouldn't have made a return if they gave more money. At some point, they decided to cut their losses.

NeoGamer2321501d ago (Edited 1501d ago )

@rainslacker
Scalebound was officially cancelled January 2017.

They announced the big set of studios in June 2018. They just didn't wake up one day and buy the studios. There is process.... They talk about the idea, then they negotiate the terms, then the buyer does due diligence, then they finance and buy. It is very conceivable that the acquisitions start up to two years before they actually happened. And it is not like Microsoft acquired them all on the same date. Many could've been acquired much earlier but it was only announced at E3 2018. I guess the way business works in your world is MS wakes up one morning, phones up five studios and they buy them before noon, then announce it at E3 in the afternoon. Welcome to fantasyland.

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180°

Xbox No Longer Has Its Head In The Game

Microsoft & Xbox have shut down Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks to lay off more workers, insinuating that they're not in the game anymore.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 22h ago

They're headless for a long time because closing tango isn't exactly a good move

PapaBop1d ago

Ever since that cringe Kinect reveal they've never been the same. They used to make some amazing games and do great deals with third parties Early on in the 360 era they had games like Chromehounds and Shadowrun, both well ahead of their time. Now instead of nurturing their studios, they'd rather gaslight gamers and throw billions on pre existing studios. Not sure how Spencer is still in a job, I wouldn't trust him to organise a piss-up in a brewery.

Father__Merrin1d ago

We've said all along Spencer needs to go. I wish xbox went back to xbox only with new gears fable forza halo releases lots of third party releases

Those early rainbow 6 Vegas days and phantasy star universe are gone forever

S2Killinit21h ago

MS has its head in the game but the game they are playing is something different from what console gamers expect from a platform. MS’s end game has always been to use the xbox as a trojan horse.

XiNatsuDragnel19h ago

Lol that's funny well this plan they have isn't working homie

343_Guilty_Spark1d 18h ago

Acquisitions always come with cuts

1Victor1d 18h ago

“Acquisitions always come with cuts”

343 trillion points shield activated
343 trillion percent damage negate activated
All damage reduced to 1 for 343 trillion turns.
MICROSOFT DEFENSE FORCE IS A GO

Tacoboto1d 17h ago

Especially for Microsoft, when Booty pretty much said they didn't know how to handle that many studios.

Why even make the acquisition then.

-Foxtrot1d 16h ago

Didn’t they make the swipe for Bethesda when Sony wanted like 6 months exclusiveness for Starfield

It’s like…chill, you got Rise of the Tomb Raider for a year.

romulus231d 16h ago

Do they always come with senseless cuts becasue that's exactly what cutting Tango was, senseless.

H91d 18h ago

Everyone's acting now that game companies care about games and Xbox is committing the Ultimate betrayal, they are all like this and you have just been quiet about it for far too long

Nuclearmoon1d 16h ago

I wonder if Microsoft do pull out of the console market that it might open the door for valve to relaunch the Steambox. Competition is good for the industry but Microsoft don't even seem to be trying anymore.

UltimateOwnage1d 13h ago

Steam / Valve are one of the few truly pro-consumer bright spots in gaming right now. Thankfully.

Jingsing1h ago

From all the money Valve make from Steam they reinvest almost 0 into creating new AAA titles for the PC platform, Absolutely no giving nothing back in that regard. Wake up.

jwillj2k41d 16h ago (Edited 1d 16h ago )

“Your game has won some pretty significant awards and is a show piece for where we want to go in the future.”

1 hour later.

“We’re gonna have to let you go. You can’t cover our 100 billion dollar acquisition. Oh and take your awards too 👍🏾”

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100°

Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider pours scorn on EA's AI dreams.

"They want you to believe the devs under them are super stoked to work generative AI into their processes," continued Gaider, "but I assure you what they took as excitement was really a veiled wail of despair not unlike the time that team was informed of their new 'really cool' live service mandate.".

LordoftheCritics2d ago

Publishers see gaming as another stock market.

isarai2d ago

I think anyone with some common sense knew this, im glad i don't support their games anymore, what a sh!t company.

Psychonaut851d 23h ago

Friends don’t let friends buy EA or Ubisoft.

Chocoburger1d 22h ago

I said this yesterday. AI isn't what we want when it comes to crafting artistry. Alas, these soulless corporate morons don't care about their work, only about cutting corners as much as possible.

120°

Modder Uses Raspberry Pi To Create "Game Gear Classic Edition"

One modder produced an unofficial, modern-day take on the Game Gear.

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