PlatinumGames has developed some of the best action games of the past decade, but fans still wonder about the one title that never made it to store shelves - Scalebound.
PlatinumGames is currently in the process of becoming a publisher, which involves a lot of financial risk for the company. It’s possible that PlatinumGames will want to revive some of its older properties as part of its new venture, which it might do in the future with a Kickstarter for Scalebound.
The History Of Scalebound
PlatinumGames became closely associated with Nintendo during the Wii U era, but the company has worked with a number of other publishers over the years, including Square Enix on Nier: Automata and Konami on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. In 2013, PlatinumGames began work on a title called Scalebound that was going to be published by Microsoft Studios for PC and Xbox One.
Scalebound was meant to be an action RPG set in a fantasy world, where the main character was mentally connected to a dragon and the two needed to team up to defeat foes. All seemed well with the Scalebound project, but the game was unexpectedly canceled in 2017.
The Wonderful 101: Remastered & The Move Into Self-Publishing
PlatinumGames has been trying to move into self-publishing its games, due to how the company doesn’t actually own any of its IPs. This move was recently facilitated by a large investment by Tencent, but the details of this deal have yet to be revealed.
PlatinumGames has launched a website for something called the Platinum 4, which refers to four upcoming games. The first game has now been revealed as The Wonderful 101: Remastered, which has received over seven hundred thousand dollars on Kickstarter and will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, and PlayStation 4 in April.
There are three slots remaining on the Platinum Four website and one of these could belong to a Scalebound revival.
The Revival Rumors
In 2019, there were rumors that the Scalebound project was being revived for the Nintendo Switch, but these were refuted by an ex-developer who worked for PlatinumGames.
It’s clear that The Wonderful 101: Remastered has been in development for a long time and that PlatinumGames just needs the money to actually ship the game. It’s possible that something similar is happening with Scalebound and that a Kickstarter will be created to help bring that game to other platforms.
The Microsoft Issue
The only thing standing in the way of a Scalebound revival is Microsoft Studios, as it owns the rights to the Scalebound IP.
Hideki Kamiya has revealed that PlatinumGames received permission from Nintendo to revive The Wonderful 101 and have allowed it to come to different platforms. The Wonderful 101 sold poorly on the Wii U and it’s possible that Nintendo isn’t too concerned with the property blowing up on other platforms. There are also people who suspect that the hefty price tag for the Steam & PlayStation 4 ports on Kickstarter is necessary as part of a pay-off that needs to be given to Nintendo.
It’s possible that a similar deal could be worked out with Microsoft regarding Scalebound. The company invested money in its development for four years and the license is doing nothing at the moment. We know that Microsoft is fine with its games being released on Nintendo systems, so the company could cut a deal with PlatinumGames to allow Scalebound to come to Kickstarter, with the intention of it also coming to Nintendo Switch and possibly the PlayStation 4. If the fans are financing the project, then Microsoft has nothing to lose.
