Scalebound was cancelled on January 9th, 2017, officially marking a terrible anniversary for Xbox gamers. The cooperation between Microsoft and PlatinumGames sparked a lot of excitement among Xbox One customers, but the game never materialised. According to a recent Xbox insider Shpeshal Nick report, the two businesses are reviving the IP (probably on Xbox Series X|S), although things are still in the early stages. As with any rumour, readers should treat this one with caution until we hear anything definite from Xbox!
Scalebound was initially shown at E3 in 2014. The game would have been an action RPG based on the planet of Draconis. Players would have mostly controlled a guy called Drew and his dragon, Thuban. Drew could have controlled Thuban in a first-person “Dragon Link” mode, but doing so would have exposed him to enemy assaults, and if one character died, the other would have perished as well. The game would have had a four-player co-op in addition to a single-player option.
This was incredibly ambitious, and it seems like it would have provided Xbox with something significantly distinct from the rest of the company’s first-party products. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, everything broke apart, and neither party has provided precise details on what went wrong. Regardless, Microsoft owns the intellectual property, and PlatinumGames studio president Atsushi Inaba showed interest in revisiting Scalebound in a 2020 interview with Eurogamer.
It has been reported that PlatinumGames replicated some of its Scalebound concepts in the Nintendo Switch exclusive after Bayonetta 3’s debut last year. It doesn’t seem that it was ever verified, but it’s evident that Platinum hasn’t forgotten about the game and is interested in returning to it at some time. For the time being, Xbox fans will have to wait to see whether the IP returns in any way.
