Scalebound is one of those games that showed real promise and hype but unfortunately was binned off back in 2017. It’s a discussion that regularly crops up in conversation time and time again in many podcasts around the globe. Many Xbox gamers secretly wish that the title had come to fruition but sadly it was not meant to be. When the game was originally announced in 2013 there was much excitement that Xbox would see a brand-new IP, something the console had been crying out for at the start of a new generation of gaming. After four years in production though, it becomes a distant memory ten years after that first glimpse into something that could have been truly special.

Sigh…Why Are You Bringing Scalebound Up Again?

Well, after listening to various podcasts and chatter over the past couple of weeks there have been some brief mentions of Scalebound that have been merely looking back on that time period. However, on Saturday 14th January 2023 on the Xbox Era podcast, co-founder and co-host Shpeshal Nick had some really exciting rumblings as part of the rumour mill segment of the show. As a former member of the Xbox Era team, I know personally that Nick is very careful and selective with his insider talk. Let’s remember that the rumour mill is always what it says on the tin and is never set in stone, but there is some information on Scalebound.

Shpeshal Nick who was live from Sydney rather than Melbourne this week let the cat out of the bag with a potential revival of the cancelled project. He explained that Platinum Games might be working alongside Xbox to bring Scalebound back to life. The key word here is “might” and he also added that if this does turn out to be true, we are talking about very early days. This raises a few questions of whether it will be started from the ground up or whether they will try and go back to what existed before and try and bring it all back to life.

Why Was It Even Cancelled In The First Place?

It has been said that when Scalebound was officially showcased for the first time, it was an ambitious and challenging mission for the Platinum Games team. It seems crazy that a game can be completely shoved to one side after four years of hard graft. Back in 2017 though the vice president of Platinum Games informed onlookers that the project was too ambitious for their vision and could not deliver on expectations. Now this a very brief explanation and there is perhaps far more to it that we will never know. Almost six years down the line, if this rumour turns into positive truth, with advancement in hardware, technology and staff experience, could we see a new ethos and polished product several years down the line?

Final Thoughts

There will be many differences of opinion on Scalebound and whatever side of the fence you sit on, it is still very interesting news. Some will be of the belief that the project should stay dead and buried and left alone and there will be many that are sad that it never arrived and would love to see it eventually come to light. Personally, I am all for it and would love to see this happen, what is there to lose?

Xbox needs and wants to keep a line of exclusive and interesting IP’s trickling through a timeline of years to come and this is a title that they could add to the back pocket in the distant future. This isn’t the first time we have heard of a revival with Jez Corden of Windows Central hinting in 2022 that Hideki Kamiya was exploring options to bring this back from the grave but Shpeshal Nick has now reinforced this somewhat with perhaps some movement. Only time will tell and for the moment we should take anything with a pinch of salt, but I say let’s see what E3 2023 uncovers.