Platinum Games President Atsushi Inaba and Vice-President Hideko Kamiya have called on Microsoft Game Studios president Phil Spencer to revive their canceled collaboration project Scalebound.
In an interview with IGN Japan (translated by VGC), the co-founders of Platinum Games were asked if they would like to revisit the project and the two said that they would be interested in speaking with Microsoft about bringing the game back.
Inaba replied, “Kamiya has always wanted to do Scalebound. So we’d like to have a proper discussion with Microsoft,”.
Kamiya then said “We did a lot of work on it, and it’s no use Microsoft keeping the game in its current form, so we’d like to do something about it. Phil! Let’s do it together!”
Scalebound is an action hack n slash game similar to Kamiya’s previous works like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta but with dragons. The game sees the player control Drew, who would fight alongside a dragon named Thuban.
The game was unfortunately canceled in 2019 due to development troubles with both Microsoft and Platinum Games apologizing and taking the blame for the game. Kamiya however has recently said that he takes full responsibility for the game’s cancellation.
Microsoft Studios still maintains IP ownership of Scalebound. Inaba has previously said that the team at Platinum would like to reignite the IP if given the opportunity however, this recent interview will be the first time they have expressed interest in having a conversation with Microsoft.
There were rumors of the game being in development again in 2020 however these were eventually shot down by Microsft Studios president Phil Spenser who explained that he had no hard feelings against Platinum Games however he felt they could not bring the game back.
“It’s a tough one because I have a ton of respect for Platinum, Kamiya-san, the team and I feel no ill will and we talk to those guys: there’s no animosity between the teams.”
“We’re not working on it. I’m not at Platinum today, but I’m almost positive they’re not working on it. It’s something we’ve all moved past and it’s not a moment I see as a high point in my role, having to cancel a game that we’d talked about for years.”
“But yeah, for the people out there thinking that maybe there’s something still in the works: there’s not.”