Platinum accepts partial fault for Scalebound’s cancelation

No sense dragon your business partner

There has been a near-unanimous refrain following Microsoft’s cancelation of Platinum’s Scalebound back in 2017: How could Xbox, a platform that’s light on first-party exclusives, shut down the most promising game in its pipeline? More than two years later, the developer has gone on the record to state that Microsoft shouldn’t take all the blame.

In an interview with Video Games Chronicle, Platinum head Atsushi Inaba admits that it’s partially the studio’s fault that Scalebound never came to fruition. “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,” Inaba says. “Because nobody wants a game to be canceled.”

Inaba continued “At the bare minimum, it’s unique for us as a title in so much as we feel that we didn’t do all of the things that we needed to do as a developer. There were a lot of painful lessons, but that helped us grow as a studio.”

Ultimately, it’s a no-win situation. Microsoft may have taken the heat, but Inaba says Platinum feels responsible too. “Both sides failed,” he concedes.

Microsoft shouldn’t take blame for Scalebound, says Platinum [Video Games Chronicle]