Report: Scalebound Resurrected As A Nintendo Switch Exclusive

Scalebound Key Art

9th January 2017. Microsoft Studios confirmed that “after careful deliberation,” it had “come to the decision to end production for Scalebound.” It was yet another high-profile Xbox One exclusive that, along with Fable Legends, Microsoft had chosen to pull the plug on. The natural reaction was one of widespread disappointment.

None more so than creator Hideki Kamiya, who, at long last, had the chance to express the love that he once had for fantasy games in high school. After the early excitement that the project was met with when it was revealed on-stage at E3 2014, Scalebound’s abrupt end had left fans with more questions than answers. However, we can be thankful that making Kamiya’s dream a reality is far from over.

I have confidence in my sources to report that it is my understanding that Scalebound has been resurrected as a project to be released as a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Given Microsoft’s previous involvement, it remains unclear to me whether development has been completely rebooted from scratch or, at the least, its ambition scaled back – seeing as it’s now destined for the nimble, but less powerful, portable home console.

Further to this, I believe that Scalebound is likely to be the “game that’s thought to be dead that Nintendo’s reviving” that Game Informer senior editor Imran Khan had hinted at on Kinda Funny Games last week. Although, there’s the chance that he could have heard about a different project that will be resuscitated.

In the original concept for Scalebound, you were to play as Drew, who, while exploring the dangerous world of Draconis, is bonded to the fearsome and noble dragon, Thuban – the last of his kind. Thrown together by fate, they must defeat the enemies that threaten their world.

As far as I am aware, the Scalebound trademark was renewed but soon had to be abandoned thanks to Microsoft being unable to state what they would use it for. Ultimately, that has left the door open for another publisher to step in and, as part of on-going discussions around the projects that PlatinumGames could work on for Nintendo Switch, it was something that Nintendo expressed interest in.

Without a doubt, Nintendo and PlatinumGames have continued to build a close relationship with one another. On Wii U, the developer supported the ill-fated console with The Wonderful 101, Star Fox Zero, and Bayonetta 2 – a sequel that the developer has expressed would not have existed without Nintendo’s support.

That camaraderie has since continued on Nintendo Switch, that, along with Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 ports, has resulted in PlatinumGames once again being given the chance to work on Bayonetta 3 and Astral Chain as exclusives for the console.

With Hideki Kamiya supervising Astral Chain and his role on Bayonetta 3 unclear, it would appear that, keen to right the development struggles that the original project had suffered, his main focus has been on grounding Scalebound for its return. And, like many, we look forward to seeing it in action.

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    1. tbh at this point, i’m grateful it might even still exist.

      i kinda disliked that it was gonna be on xbox, but i was still gonna rent/borrow one at some point to play this f***ing game.

      now, its just even more of a reason to get a switch for me, maybe. and i’m glad it’s still around.

      as an added bonus, i saw it and thought “man, sorta makes me thing of xenoblade chronicles X from monolith soft, man it’d be great if they had a hand in it to somehow” and now, if the rumor is true, this could very well maybe what happens.

  1. What a twist! Imagine seeing Nintendo and Platinum Games working on three Switch exclusives– Astral Chain, Bayonetta 3… and (if that rumor is true) Scalebound!!!!!

  2. If true, what a steal; see, Microsoft? This is what happens when you don’t play ball with PlatinumGames (and this goes double with Sony). Games like MadWorld, Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2 staying permanently on a Nintendo platform is a win for the latter, not a loss.

    At this point, I’m all for Nintendo simply purchasing Platinum as a first-party studio thanks to their partnership.

    1. Well if Platinum hadn’t taken years with no real progress on development, MS wouldn’t have had to cancel the games production in the first place

      1. Yeah its all Platinum fault’s…Crackdown 3 was annouced the same time as Scaleboiund and five years later it coming out to rave reviews…oh wait…

        1. Exactly, they seem rather quick to shift the blame away from Microsoft, while ignoring that they haven’t exactly done an amazing job this gen. They’ve made a great console, but their exclusives haven’t been as great as people would have liked. Halo 5 seemed like a step down, getting mixed reviews, Crackdown 3 feels like its just been shoved out with little fanfare, and unfortunately the game feels archaic now, doing little to improve on the older titles.
          It honestly feels like Microsoft were too busy trying to create an entertainment system, that they almost forgot that it can play games too…

  3. And maybe if MS hadn’t tried to force multiplayer into the game which led to all sorts of issues, maybe Platinum wouldn’t have had their progress slow to a crawl

  4. I certainly hope it’s back in a different shape and form from what we’ve seen. That E3 demo looked positively craptacular and it didn’t surprise me one bit it was cancelled

  5. I hope the get rid of the beats headphones on the main character :/ And before it was xbox wasn’t this planned to be a wii exclusive?

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