10 Video Games They Were Right To Cancel
2. Scalebound
PlatinumGames' co-op action-RPG Scalebound was initially announced for Xbox and PC at E3 2014, and was clearly intended to be a new tentpole IP for Microsoft.
Yet word went quiet on the game in the years that followed, and in January 2017 it was confirmed to have been cancelled.
Even though player reception to the gameplay footage released was certainly divided, there were nevertheless many heartbroken by its cancellation, yet once a clearer picture of the behind-the-scenes situation came together, it's easy to appreciate why Microsoft called it a day.
Though Microsoft caught a ton of flak for cancelling the game, PlatinumGames studio head Atsushi Inaba claimed in 2019 that it was a failure on the parts of both companies.
Furthermore, in 2021 director Hideki Kamiya revealed that Scalebound was canned due to both PlatinumGames' struggle to familiarise themselves with Unreal Engine 4, and their lack of expertise in building an online-focused game.
All in all, it's fair to assume that the game was in rough shape when it was nixed, and given that PlatinumGames' next attempt at an online action-RPG, Babylon's Fall, was an abject disaster, Scalebound was probably a dodged bullet all things considered.
There has been recent scuttlebutt of the game's possible revival, but in such a perilous, risk-averse time for the industry, it's pretty tough to take those claims seriously.