Microsoft made the announcement of the cancellation of Scalebound in a statement which was shared with GameSpot last afternoon.
The Microsoft spokesperson stated:
After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound, we’re working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves, and other great experiences.
This news has come shortly after it was found that the game’s Xbox.com page had been entirely removed from the website. It now simply redirects to the website’s homepage. A small number of reports even surfaced today that the game might actually be in trouble, amongst these, a tweet from Unseen64 and Did You Know Gaming’s Liam Robertson.
Bad news. I’m hearing that @Scalebound is in trouble, possibly cancelled. Just rumours for now, but we’ll see.
— ?am Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) January 9, 2017
Scalebound’s name was also absent from the latest Xbox Wire blog post that highlights all big upcoming 2017 releases, and very little has been heard from it ever since its E3 2016 presentation. It was initially slated for release in 2016, only for it to be further delayed until 2017 alongside other Xbox One exclusive titles such as Crackdown 3 and Halo Wars 2. Just Last August, these delays were characterised by Microsoft as being motivated in part by a crowded holiday release slate.
Development on the Platinum title, the action RPG which featured dragons and even online co-op, was officially led by the Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya. There’s been no word as of yet on whether Platinum might continue its development of the game completely separate from its official partnership with Microsoft. But we’d love that.
As it is, the Xbox One was going to suffer this year against the Playstation 4 in terms of exclusive titles, and such a cancellation could have serious ramifications for Microsoft. Now it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing how this pans out. (Fingers crossed!)
