Scalebound: two and a half years of hype, one cancellation notice
Microsoft cancelled PlatinumGames' Scalebound after years of public development
The market's verdict: -0.5% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
On January 9, 2017, Microsoft Studios announced it was ending production of Scalebound, the dragon-action RPG from PlatinumGames, Hideki Kamiya's studio, that had been a flagship Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive since its E3 2014 reveal. After careful deliberation, the statement read, and two and a half years of demos, delays and expectation later, the game was dead. Platinum apologized to fans two days later, which was generous, given that it was Microsoft's money that had evaporated. The Xbox exclusive pipeline spent the late 2010s cancelling its future and then, in the 2020s, buying one pre-built for billions.
This one is well documented.
They did it more than once
Two cancelled exclusives, two dead studios, two years apart. The collection grows.
Links
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Impact
- BBC News (publication)
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Context
- Windows Central (publication)
↳ caused by Scalebound cancellation (January 2017)
Timeline
- Jan 9, 2017 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.