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Platinum boss Inaba feels Microsoft bore an unfair share of the blame for Scalebound’s cancellation

Platinum boss Inaba feels Microsoft bore an unfair share of the blame for Scalebound’s cancellation

Frustrated fans were too hard on Microsoft after Scalebound was cancelled, claims developer Platinum.

Scalebound was announced at E3 2014 as the latest in the Bayonetta-developer's catalogue of action games. The publisher had been funding Platinum’s newest game for years, with plans to launch early in the Xbox One’s life cycle. 

But it wasn't to be, with a lengthy development leading to cancellation. In an interview with VGC, the studio claimed that watching community backlash “wasn’t easy” after Microsoft shelved Scalebound in 2017.

Platinum studio head Atsushi Inaba laments that the developer may have gotten off a little too easy.

“Both sides failed,” said Inaba. “Watching fans getting angry at Microsoft over the cancellation wasn’t easy for us to watch. Because the reality is when any game in development can’t get released it’s because both sides failed.”

“I think there are areas where we could’ve done better and I’m sure there are areas that Microsoft as a publishing partner wish that they could’ve done better. Because nobody wants a game to be cancelled.”

Inaba continued, explaining that Scalebound’s sudden end wasn’t the trigger for Platinum to self-publish its next two games. There’s no ill will towards Microsoft, who Inaba thanks for letting them start Scalebound in the first place, and the move towards a publisher-less future was made independently of the downed dragon-fighter.

“I wouldn’t say our experience with Scalebound influenced us to go towards self-publishing," he said.

"Quite frankly, the reality is that we’ve had plenty of titles cancelled in the past: that’s part and parcel of what comes with making video games.”


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.