[00:00] Capcom veterans Atsushi Inaba, Hideki&nbsp; Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami joined&nbsp;&nbsp; forces in 2007 to found PlatinumGames.&nbsp; Operating out of Capcom s backyard in Osaka,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[00:20] Japan, while producing critically acclaimed&nbsp; games such as Bayonetta and Vanquish for Sega.&nbsp;&nbsp; These titles and several others set a cadence&nbsp; for Platinum, mixing combo-based action with&nbsp;&nbsp; over-the-top visuals for incomparable interactive&nbsp; experiences. All the while, however, Hideki Kamiya&nbsp;&nbsp;
[00:37] had another idea brewing in the back of his mind,&nbsp; a concept that would finally give respect to the&nbsp;&nbsp; larger-than-life creatures he d long adored. Scalebound was to star a young man stranded&nbsp;&nbsp;
[00:49] in a fantastical world whose companion,&nbsp; the fire-breathing dragon named Thuban,&nbsp;&nbsp; constituted the last of its kind. Instead of an&nbsp; antagonistic or purely functional relationship,&nbsp;&nbsp; the two unlikely allies forged a bond&nbsp; that united them across storytelling&nbsp;&nbsp;
[01:04] and gameplay mechanics. Publisher Microsoft&nbsp; Studios fell head over heels for Platinum s&nbsp;&nbsp; pitch, signing a deal that would make the&nbsp; sprawling adventure exclusive to Xbox One.&nbsp; The public similarly grew attached to Scalebound,&nbsp; fawning over every screenshot and morsel of&nbsp;&nbsp;
[01:20] gameplay footage shown during its fleeting life&nbsp; cycle. But it never actually saw the light of day,&nbsp;&nbsp; not outside of well-crafted vertical slices and&nbsp; glowing press previews. Announced during the nadir&nbsp;&nbsp; of the Xbox One s early days, Scalebound seemed a&nbsp; beacon of hope for the beleaguered console. Thus,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[01:37] all were surprised when Microsoft abruptly ceased&nbsp; development on the project, pulling the plug the&nbsp;&nbsp; year it was to hit store shelves. And the fact&nbsp; that Microsoft owns the intellectual property&nbsp;&nbsp; rights means the keys to Kamiya s unique&nbsp; vision remain outside of PlatinumGames reach&nbsp;&nbsp;
[01:52] for an indeterminate length of time. This is the tragedy of Scalebound.&nbsp;
[02:10] Hideki Kamiya s fondness for action,&nbsp; adventure, and role-playing games&nbsp;&nbsp;
[02:23] informed his love of dinosaurs and gargantuan&nbsp; creatures like Godzilla. This passion followed&nbsp;&nbsp; the now-storied game designer to Capcom to the&nbsp; extent that he envied Shu Takumi s role on Dino&nbsp;&nbsp;
[02:35] Crisis and wanted to swap projects despite&nbsp; working on Resident Evil 2. But Kamiya s&nbsp;&nbsp; passion was made manifest by other means moving&nbsp; dinosaur skeletons appeared in Devil May Cry,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[02:47] for example. The designer additionally&nbsp; referenced dinosaur movements for the&nbsp;&nbsp; game s Griffon demon. Dragons also served as&nbsp; the thematic basis for Bayonetta s Fortitudo&nbsp;&nbsp; boss and influenced the creation of&nbsp; certain enemies in The Wonderful 101.&nbsp;
[03:02] These auxiliary depictions merely scratched the&nbsp; surface for Kamiya, who felt video games too&nbsp;&nbsp; often typecast dinosaurs and the like as either&nbsp; the villain, pet, or mode of transportation. In&nbsp;&nbsp;
[03:14] an attempt to flip the script, the pitching&nbsp; phase for PlatinumGames s first endeavor saw&nbsp;&nbsp; the Devil May Cry creator propose a game&nbsp; with dinosaurs as the main subject matter.&nbsp; Kamiya divulged in a GameSpot interview that&nbsp; Scalebound counted among the first concepts&nbsp;&nbsp;
[03:29] the studio considered after opening its doors. The&nbsp; project was initially pitched as a Wii experience&nbsp;&nbsp; starring a little girl through whom players could&nbsp; control dinosaurs with the Wii remote. Ultimately,&nbsp;&nbsp; other endeavors took precedent. After shipping&nbsp; Bayonetta in 2009, Platinum revisited the&nbsp;&nbsp;
[03:45] dinosaur game, keeping the child protagonist&nbsp; but jettisoning the dinosaur theme in exchange&nbsp;&nbsp; for dragons. Building a prototype helped further&nbsp; flesh out the idea and led to Kamiya s realization&nbsp;&nbsp; that he d much rather join the action instead of&nbsp; watching it. This line of thought begat another&nbsp;&nbsp;
[04:02] significant change, one wherein a slightly&nbsp; older swordsman replaced the little girl.&nbsp; Platinum shelved the project again soon&nbsp; thereafter, setting aside its dragon&nbsp;&nbsp; prototype to move forward with what would&nbsp; later become Wii U s The Wonderful 101.&nbsp;&nbsp;
[04:17] Towards the end of the Wii U title s development,&nbsp; Kamiya reengaged the dragon game, working&nbsp;&nbsp; alongside the studio s lead designer to compose&nbsp; a refined version of the concept document. At&nbsp;&nbsp; long last, the game designer had an opportunity to&nbsp; helm development on his dream. The Japanese outfit&nbsp;&nbsp;
[04:34] inked a deal with a prominent western publisher&nbsp; to help bring its co-founder s dream into reality.&nbsp;
[04:58] Over time, Japanese publishers had grown wary of&nbsp; original fare with a big budget and an independent&nbsp;&nbsp; studio attached. Japanese firms who produced&nbsp; these types of experiences, thus, turned to&nbsp;&nbsp; crowdfunding, licensing agreements, mobile game&nbsp; development, or leaving the industry flat-out.&nbsp;&nbsp;
[05:14] Luckily for PlatinumGames at the time, translator&nbsp; and former Capcom producer Ben Judd facilitated&nbsp;&nbsp; a meeting with Microsoft that landed Scalebound a&nbsp; new home after it entered production around 2013.&nbsp;
[05:26] Creative Producer Jean-Pierre Kellams told&nbsp; IGN that partnering with a western publisher&nbsp;&nbsp; marked an important step for the studio and by&nbsp; all accounts, the two fostered a great working&nbsp;&nbsp;
[05:38] relationship. According to Kamiya, Microsoft&nbsp; s very hands-on approach differed from that&nbsp;&nbsp; of Japanese publishers that followed a good-ol&nbsp; -days business model, in which higher-ups were&nbsp;&nbsp; satisfied so long as the game worked out in&nbsp; the end. The team at Xbox similarly emphasized&nbsp;&nbsp;
[05:55] the final product yet had a vested interest in&nbsp; the process by which its partners reached that&nbsp;&nbsp; point. Most importantly, Kamiya insisted Xbox&nbsp; s managerial efforts kept Platinum honest and&nbsp;&nbsp;
[06:07] streamlined production to the extent that&nbsp; they developed the game faster than usual.&nbsp; Microsoft s expertise enhanced the content of&nbsp; Scalebound, as well. A self-aware Platinum knew&nbsp;&nbsp; that while most of its endeavors were critical&nbsp; darlings, they didn t exactly fly off store&nbsp;&nbsp;
[06:22] shelves. Asking Microsoft s gaming division for&nbsp; advice on how best to attract a broader audience&nbsp;&nbsp; served as but one of many ways the Bayonetta&nbsp; creators stepped out of their comfort zone.&nbsp;&nbsp; As a result, skilled and advanced players were&nbsp; not the target audience; instead, the studio&nbsp;&nbsp;
[06:37] tried appealing to a wider range of players&nbsp; by sidestepping the severe risk/reward-type of&nbsp;&nbsp; feel that pervaded its previous adventures. Though&nbsp; certain design choices spawned from older pitches,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[06:49] the hope was that Scalebound s fantastical nature&nbsp; would further interest those who didn t typically&nbsp;&nbsp; give Platinum-developed games a second glance. The player character, Drew, participating in&nbsp;&nbsp; expansive battles between two large-scale&nbsp; creatures provided Scalebound with its&nbsp;&nbsp;
[07:04] gameplay core. In true Platinum fashion,&nbsp; the protagonist wielded outrageous weapons,&nbsp;&nbsp; including swords that dwarfed Drew in size.&nbsp; And of the myriad tools at his disposal,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[07:16] many came imbued with elemental characteristics&nbsp; such as the ability to deal fire damage. While&nbsp;&nbsp; this may have seemed like business as usual on&nbsp; paper, action role-playing elements sat at the&nbsp;&nbsp; forefront, a first for the development crew. But Kamiya and Co. remained adamant about&nbsp;&nbsp;
[07:33] carefully ingratiating the studio s signature&nbsp; action-centric DNA into Scalebound s more RPG&nbsp;&nbsp; qualities. Thus, the responsiveness of movement&nbsp; that helped separate Bayonetta and Devil May Cry&nbsp;&nbsp; from their counterparts pervaded the dragon&nbsp; game, ensuring players would always feel in&nbsp;&nbsp;
[07:48] full control of Drew. Controlling the dragon,&nbsp; Thuban, proved integral as well, given Drew&nbsp;&nbsp; s ability to direct the creature s behavior&nbsp; on the battlefield. Yet, developers designed&nbsp;&nbsp; the companion AI such that Thuban could also act&nbsp; independently, obeying commands in a general sense&nbsp;&nbsp;
[08:03] while simultaneously responding to situations&nbsp; with some semblance of autonomy when necessary.&nbsp; Drew s command over Thuban extended to the dragon&nbsp; s aesthetic design, too. Platinum wanted players&nbsp;&nbsp;
[08:15] to customize his appearance with skins that&nbsp; matched their preferences, emphasizing the unique&nbsp;&nbsp; bond that users were to build with the creature.&nbsp; Said bond represented the center of gravity for&nbsp;&nbsp; Scalebound, as the unlikely companions found&nbsp; themselves propelled into a mutually beneficial&nbsp;&nbsp;
[08:29] relationship whose growth could save the magical&nbsp; world of Draconis. This pairing and its importance&nbsp;&nbsp; to the overarching narrative harkened back to&nbsp; Hideki Kamiya s vision of designing a game where&nbsp;&nbsp; the dragon took center stage hence the team&nbsp; prioritizing customization options for Thuban.&nbsp;
[08:46] The connection between Drew and Thuban blossomed&nbsp; out of their shared sense of isolation,&nbsp;&nbsp; with the former being unexpectedly thrust&nbsp; into Draconis from the modern world and the&nbsp;&nbsp; latter constituting the last of his kind. Platinum&nbsp; notably designed Scalebound around the evolution&nbsp;&nbsp;
[09:01] of their relationship on levels both high and&nbsp; low. If Thuban died during a combat encounter,&nbsp;&nbsp; so, too, did his human companion and vice versa.&nbsp; Their partnership even informed various gameplay&nbsp;&nbsp;
[09:14] mechanics, apparent in the skill point system&nbsp; that rewarded users for healing the dragon or&nbsp;&nbsp; performing other supportive role-type actions. Speaking with IGN, Gamer Designer Yasuke Miyata&nbsp;&nbsp; behaviors that ultimately benefited progression.&nbsp; Eventually, the duo would build up enough trust&nbsp;&nbsp;
[09:34] that enabled Drew to mount the dragon; and&nbsp; the same principle applied to unlockable joint&nbsp;&nbsp; attacks a mechanic capable of amplifying&nbsp; the synchronicity between man and dragon.&nbsp; All told, Platinum seemingly had something special&nbsp; up its sleeve, another original IP that could help&nbsp;&nbsp;
[09:50] the industry break new ground. Microsoft Studios&nbsp; s Creative Director, Ken Lobb, boasted during an&nbsp;&nbsp; Inner Circle podcast appearance that Platinum had&nbsp; the chance to produce a Game of the All-Time. And&nbsp;&nbsp;
[10:02] for a long while, it appeared audiences would get&nbsp; to someday make that judgment for themselves. But,&nbsp;&nbsp; somewhere along the way, the Japanese studio s&nbsp; ambitious epic slowly began fading from view.&nbsp;
[10:46] PlatinumGames wowed audiences during Xbox s E3&nbsp; 2014 conference upon unveiling Scalebound with&nbsp;&nbsp; an action-packed reveal trailer showcasing Drew&nbsp; s dragon form and his bond with Thuban. Other&nbsp;&nbsp; specifics about the Xbox One exclusive, such&nbsp; as its release date, remained under wraps at&nbsp;&nbsp;
[11:02] the time, but the developer and publisher&nbsp; assured hopeful players the role-playing&nbsp;&nbsp; title would leverage the power of Xbox Live&nbsp; to deliver dynamic and immersive gameplay.&nbsp; Despite offering a mere glimpse at the land&nbsp; of Draconis, the debut trailer captured the&nbsp;&nbsp;
[11:17] public s attention and held it until Scalebound s&nbsp; second showing more than a year later at gamescom&nbsp;&nbsp; 2015. The five-minute, combat-filled gamescom&nbsp; video depicted the RPG s dynamic duo taking&nbsp;&nbsp;
[11:29] on soldiers and mammoth-sized creatures. Drew&nbsp; employed short and long-range attacks; meanwhile,&nbsp;&nbsp; his commands to Thuban mixed with the fearsome&nbsp; predator s independent behaviors intensified&nbsp;&nbsp;
[11:41] the moment-to-moment action. Better still, it was&nbsp; all backed by strictly diegetic music that played&nbsp;&nbsp; through Drew s headphones. In short,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[11:55] gamescom 2015 set the tone for what people&nbsp; could expect from Scalebound s holiday 2016&nbsp;&nbsp; release. The tail end of the trailer&nbsp; also teased four-player co-op options,&nbsp;&nbsp; which would permit three additional users to pop&nbsp; into dungeon areas for boss battles. While this&nbsp;&nbsp;
[12:12] showing further intrigued onlookers, Platinum&nbsp; s eagerly-anticipated dragon game wasn t quite&nbsp;&nbsp; where it needed to be development-wise.&nbsp; That much became apparent in January 2016,&nbsp;&nbsp; when the company announced the project s delay&nbsp; to a nebulous 2017 launch window. Executives&nbsp;&nbsp;
[12:28] expressed pride in Scalebound s production&nbsp; in a statement, claiming progress had been&nbsp;&nbsp; going well. Yet, the extended development&nbsp; period would provide developers the time&nbsp;&nbsp; needed to implement the title s many innovative&nbsp; features and thrilling gameplay experiences.&nbsp;
[12:43] Within a year, however, these efforts had&nbsp; arguably been rendered fruitless. In January 2017,&nbsp;&nbsp; several sources familiar with Platinum s&nbsp; operations informed Kotaku that Scalebound&nbsp;&nbsp; was treading troubled waters and at risk&nbsp; of being canceled by Microsoft Studios. The&nbsp;&nbsp;
[12:59] publication learned of the project s descent&nbsp; into development hell, its alleged problems&nbsp;&nbsp; having plagued production for quite a while. From&nbsp; the public s point of view, the claims seemingly&nbsp;&nbsp; bore some semblance of truth, considering&nbsp; the events leading up to Kotaku s report.&nbsp;
[13:14] Microsoft removed its dedicated Scalebound page&nbsp; from the official Xbox website days before the&nbsp;&nbsp; report went live. And the action RPG conspicuously&nbsp; received no mention in an early January Xbox&nbsp;&nbsp; Wire post touting the then-upcoming releases&nbsp; across Microsoft-branded hardware. Fortunately,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[13:31] the publisher didn t let the public stew for&nbsp; too long. Just hours after cancellation rumors&nbsp;&nbsp; hit the web, Microsoft confirmed to the press&nbsp; its decision to cease production on Scalebound.&nbsp; This blow to the Xbox One lineup came&nbsp; following a string of canned exclusives,&nbsp;&nbsp;
[13:47] with Microsoft shelving the Phantom Dust remake,&nbsp; Fable Legends, and Project: Knoxville in 2015 and&nbsp;&nbsp; 2016. Scalebound s abandonment hit harder for&nbsp; some, though, thus resulting in the publisher&nbsp;&nbsp;
[13:59] receiving the brunt of the backlash a response&nbsp; that Platinum would later denounce as unfair.&nbsp; In a 2019 VGC interview, PlatinumGames&nbsp; Studio Head, Atsushi Inaba, said the team&nbsp;&nbsp;
[14:11] opposed the ire directed at Microsoft following&nbsp; Scalebound s cancellation. Both sides failed,&nbsp;&nbsp; according to Inaba, who admitted Platinum&nbsp; didn t do its due diligence while developing&nbsp;&nbsp; the game. Unable to offer much in the way of&nbsp; specifics, the executive noted that painful&nbsp;&nbsp;
[14:26] lessons ensued from the Scalebound experience,&nbsp; each one strengthening the studio s growth.&nbsp; Irrespective of what happened and why, Platinum&nbsp; s fondness for Scalebound never faded; in fact,&nbsp;&nbsp; Inaba once told Eurogamer Portugal the crew&nbsp; would love" to revisit the IP if given the&nbsp;&nbsp;
[14:43] opportunity. That opportunity would have to&nbsp; come with a blessing from Xbox, considering&nbsp;&nbsp; its ownership of the rights. Unfortunately,&nbsp; nothing suggests Microsoft has any interest&nbsp;&nbsp; in retreading old ground, meaning Hideki Kamiya&nbsp; s dream game remains trapped in limbo a space the&nbsp;&nbsp;
[14:59] ambitious idea had already grown too comfortable&nbsp; in after years of waiting on the sidelines.