It's because MS is losing the console war imo. They should be pissed that sony is winning this gen. Now that sony is giving up on handheld market with vita's death in the west, MS need to see if they can make a portable gaming device that lets you play PC games on it like star bound. They need to look into the future and not dwell on what's trendy now. That's why kinect failed: it came right after the wii motion sensing shit was about to go out of style.By Tom Phillips Published 09/01/2017
UPDATE 09/01/2017 8.34pm: Microsoft has confirmed to Eurogamer that Scalebound has been cancelled.
Herein lies its official statement on the matter:
“After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound. We're working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and other great experiences. For more information on our 2017 plans, please visit: http://bit.ly/2i1E5bV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.”
ORIGINAL STORY 09/01/2017 7.30pm: Development of Xbox One exclusive Scalebound has ceased after more than four years.
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Multiple sources have confirmed to Eurogamer that Microsoft and developer Platinum Games have parted ways on the project, and that work concluded before the end of 2016.
This tallies with a just-published Kotaku report which states the game is currently in trouble, and possibly cancelled.
Scalebound was last seen in public back at Gamescom 2016 in August. Since then, the relationship between Microsoft and Osaka-based developer Platinum Games dramatically soured.
Work on the game took a serious knock last autumn, Eurogamer sources say, when several senior members of the development team were forced to take a month away from the pressure of the project's heavy workload.
These project members then returned, but Scalebound was now behind schedule. With continuing issues surrounding the game's engine and overdue deadlines, the decision was made that the project could no longer continue.
It's unclear whether Scalebound could still be revived by Platinum, but as we understand it, work on the project as we know it has now concluded. Eurogamer has asked Microsoft for comment.
Scalebound was the brainchild of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Okami and Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya.
Originally announced via an eye-catching cinematic trailer back at E3 2014, it wasn't until Gamescom 2015 that Microsoft narrowed down an initial release window of "holiday 2016". In January last year, Microsoft pushed this release date back to a vague "2017" placheholder.
Early work on Scalebound dates back far further, however. Platinum had plans for one version of the game as early as 2006, Kamiya previously told Eurogamer. Another attempt was made to pitch it to publishers after the 2009 release of Bayonetta.
It wasn't until 2013 that work began on Scalebound as we know it, after Kamiya completed work on Wii U exclusive The Wonderful 101 for Nintendo.
Scalebound was to have starred a human protagonist (controlled in third-person) and a dragon sidekick (controlled in first-person). The latter could be given guidance to move or attack, or could be controlled directly.
It had a large open-world, four-player co-op and "the biggest boss fight Platinum has ever done". It was also coming to Windows 10, Microsoft announced last year.
When we last saw Scalebound, back at Gamescom, it looked in promising shape. Kamiya and producer Jean-Pierre "JP" Kellams were in good spirits. The pair joked with us about Kamiya's notoriously spiky Twitter persona.
I asked at the time what would come next - Scalebound 2 or Bayonetta 3? "We're guns for hire," Kamiya responded. And once again, they are.
They need a game like pokemon go where you go into the street kill virtual aliens and take their bodies home and research their abilities and powers so you can hunt down newer and more powerful varieties of alien. MS forgot about the kiddie game market and left it wide open for nintendo to take.
Notice how there is no platformer as good as mario yet on any of the xbox consoles? And you expect japanese people to buy xbox? come on, everyone knows FPS isn't that popular there.
Nintendo is expanding into the west but why haven't MS got any JRPG stuff like how Tales of Vesperia on Xbox360 last gen that are exclusive? Even Minecraft; something you own, isn't exclusive? Are you batshit insane?
And how come you haven't done anything with open world rpg games which are under the "only on Xbox brand?" Even EA had a crack at it with Kingdom of Amalur last gen. We want Dark Souls combat mixed with elder scrolls freedom to explore. Make it happen you dickheads. You have unlimited amounts of money and you can't even make something as good as Zelda Breath of The Wild. What is wrong with you retards?
Can't you get Peter Molyneux back and force him to make Fable 4 and let him do Project Natal 2 (this time it's a hot chick who is a robot that you can talk to instead of a little kid. And you can go on dates with it and the robot girlfriend can be used to protect you instead of you protecting the girl. Sort of like a reverse of raising children. You are the child and the robot girl is able to care for you? You are like John Conner would be in Terminator 2 but instead of Arnold Sqwarzenegger to protect you from assassins you have the sexy female cyborg in terminator 3 instead and try to get it to have sex with you after romancing it for a long time - release this in japan and it will do well. When you get to age 18 you are able to engage in hot coffee style minigame with the AI. Eventually the robot trains you how to kill and dies protecting you and then you have to make a new one which is like replacing your pet after it died. Robots don't feel emotions so even if the AI is dumb it would be more believable since it isn't a human being you are interacting with to begin with you see?)
Buy him some Tamagotchis or something to inspire him. The reason xbox360 stood out last gen is because it had unique shit that you cared for on it. Now it's just a weak pc in a console box with third party crap flooding on it. Boring.
Anyway maybe they can find a way to bring this project to the Switch instead? Just replace the dragon with starfox riding a robot dragon chicken.