Scalebound is a game that has the unusual distinction of living in infamy without ever actually coming out. By now we know the story; the Xbox One which has been desperate for some new IPs as First Party exclusives was looking to Scalebound as one of its solutions, only to have the plug pulled. In an interview with the Japanese site, GameWatch, Xbox Head Phil Spencer revealed some behind the scenes details and gave his personal opinion as to why it all fell apart.
Spencer says that working with PlatinumGames was quite a beneficial experience in that both sides were able to learn a lot about game development from each other. He remarked how Platinum is a very unique studio and expressed a desire to work together in the future. Fingers crossed.
That said, Spencer believes that Scalebound's downfall was twofold in that the announcement was made far too early in the game's development and that the ensuing hype caused a lot of pressure on the studio and began to influence its development. Both sides eventually reached a point where neither thought they could deliver what the fans were expecting and mutually elected to cease development.
In the end, the timing is the ultimate factor behind Scalebound's cancellation. From the announcement that came too early to a platform that had fallen very far behind on the software front, particularly in the early goings of 2017. Had the Xbox One been pushing out the kind of software lineup that Sony was, Scalebound's cancellation may not have been felt the same way.
It's just too bad that we'll never know. RIP Scalebound.
Source: GameWatch via DualShockers
