Next January, it will be five years since Scalebound was canceled. Even so, the soap opera linked to the abandoned PlatinumGames project still hasn’t aired its final episode. After many months of silence around him, the exclusive Xbox One was just being talked about again. And this time it’s because of Hideki Kamiya.
Hideki Kamiya, the director of Scalebound, has just publicly apologized to Microsoft and the players. Again, this apology relates to the game’s cancellation after several years of development.
Youtube channel Cutscenes recently started a documentary series about Hideki Kamiya’s career. In the latter, the game designer speaks about various topics in front of the camera. And in the last episode, the Japanese developer returns to the Scalebound affair.
PlatinumGames wasn’t ready
First, Hideki Kamiya talks about his ambitions for the project:
Scalebound was a project in partnership with Microsoft. They expected great things from us and we had to live up to those expectations with this project. The collaboration with Microsoft meant the release of the game on the then newest Xbox console (the Xbox One, editor’s note). I wanted to make a high-end game again. I wanted to go back to something photorealistic. While this was my personal wish, I also believed that improving our graphics skills was a mission that PlatinumGames needed to accomplish in order to take the next step in modern game development. It is for this reason that we have chosen such a universe.
Hideki Kamuya also explains that he has always enjoyed heroic fantasy universes. The stories of sword, magic and dragons. He explains that that’s why he’s always wanted to create a game in this type of universe. If, in his opinion, things have gotten stuck, it is due to PlatinumGames’ technical inexperience on several levels:
We worked in an environment we were not used to. We developed the game with the Unreal Engine and we didn’t have the know-how to develop a feature-based game online. The hurdles we had to overcome were enormous. We didn’t have enough experience and couldn’t get around this wall. And that led to what happened in the end.
Scalebound, a cursed project for Xbox and PlatinumGames
A little less than three years after its official announcement, Scalebound was officially canceled in January 2017. And although he has already done so, Hideki Kamiya again apologizes with this video:
I apologize to the players who waited for the game and I also apologize to Microsoft for placing their trust in us and making us a business partner.
I would like to apologize as both a creator and a member of PlatinumGames.
While Scalebound was still in development, some evidence showed complicated working relationships between Microsoft and PlatinumGames.
In 2015, for example, Hideki Kamiya publicly let out his anger on Twitter. The director actually wondered whether this “Microsoft crap“not”don’t mess around“He also criticized Phil Spencer’s company for trying to use it as an ‘accessory’ during their Gamescom conference.
But obviously the weather has done its job and the mood has calmed down. There is now regret on the part of Microsoft, PlatinumGames and players who are interested in the game.
What do you think of these statements from Hideki Kamiya? Do you think they are sincere? Still regretting Scalebound’s cancellation? Would you like Microsoft and PlatinumGames to try a new partnership? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
