10 Video Games That Were Cancelled (But Not Why You Think)

Why You Thought It Was Cancelled

PlatinumGames' action-RPG Scalebound was announced at E3 2014 and immediately caught the attention of press and genre fans alike.

However, the world was shocked when the game was cancelled in early 2017, with initial reports suggesting that Microsoft felt the project wasn't working and hastily cancelled it.

For many fans, it was another example of a mighty publisher pushing a beloved developer around, and gamers being deprived of an interesting game as a result.

Why It Was Actually Cancelled

The situation was actually a little more complex than this, as in 2019 PlatinumGames' head Atsushi Inaba stated that it hurt to see Microsoft raked over the coals by frustrated fans following the announcement, as they weren't solely to blame.

Inaba admitted that "both sides failed" during Scalebound's development. He added:

"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."

As convenient a narrative as it is that Microsoft enacted their irresistible will upon PlatinumGames, it seems the developer was in over their heads on such an ambitious AAA project and didn't get adequate assistance from Microsoft.

This was recently backed up by game director Hideki Kamiya, who confirmed the many technical challenges faced during development:

"We were working in an environment we weren't used to... We were developing on the Unreal engine. We also lacked the necessary know-how to build a game based on online features. The hurdles we had to overcome were very big... We weren't experienced enough and couldn't get over that wall, leading to what happened in the end."