Summary
Scaleboundbuzz swells once more as industry legend Hideki Kamiya playfully encourages Xbox’s Phil Spencer to revive the canned fantasy RPG. An unreleased relic of the early Xbox One generation,Scaleboundwas announced in 2014 by PlatinumGames as an Xbox console exclusive, headed by action game veteran Hideki Kamiya, who was known prior for franchises likeDevil May CryandBayonetta, as well asOkami. Unfortunately, production ofScaleboundwas shut down in 2017, reportedly due to development struggles. Ever since, some Xbox gamers have been quietly hoping for a revival ofScaleboundwith Kamiya back in the director’s chair.
The past few years of Hideki Kamiya’s career have been rather eventful to say the least. After 17 years at PlatinumGames, which he helped found in 2006, Kamiya left the studio in 2023 following disagreements with co-founder Itsushi Inaba. Shortly thereafter, Kamiya joined Clovers, a new studio largely made up of ex-PlatinumGames members. At the 2024 Game Awards, it was revealed that Clovers ispartnering with Capcom to create a sequel toOkamiwith Kamiya leading the project as director. The reveal was one of the most talked-about of the night, next to another big Capcom revival inOnimusha: Way of the Sword.
Just a few months after revealing theOkamisequel at The Game Awards, Clovers released a short clip on Twitter showing Hideki Kamiya at his desk surrounded by Clovers developers watching some of the oldScaleboundtrailers. According to the post, Kamiya was reminiscing about the canceled dragon RPG, adding a quote from the director, saying “I’d love to make it again someday.” Kamiya himself quoted the tweet on Twitter, saying “Let’s do it, Phil,” referring of course toHead of Xbox Phil Spencer.
Hideki Kamiya is Interested in Reviving Scalebound
While it’s clear that Kamiya is open to givingScaleboundanother shot, the question would be whether Xbox is still interested in doing so. Unlike back in the early Xbox One generation, Xbox has built up a sizable portfolio of first-party studios and, as such, has an immense number of big new games planned to release this year and beyond; it’s no longer desperate for new first-party games. On top of this, Xbox already has several large fantasy RPGs in the works. It just released Obsidian’sAvowedlast month,Playground Games’Fablereboot is coming next year, andThe Elder Scrolls 6will be the next big RPG from Todd Howard and Bethesda Game Studios. Additionally, Xbox is partnering withHitmandeveloper IO Interactive on a fantasy game known as Project Dragon. There doesn’t seem to be much more room right now for yet another big fantasy game in Xbox’s game lineup.
While all thisScaleboundbuzz is pure speculation, for now, fans of Hideki Kamiya’s work do have theOkamisequel to look forward to.Since it doesn’t have a release date, thesequel toOkamiis likely several years away. As for the potentialScaleboundrevival, if Xbox does eventually agree to give the dragon-riding action RPG another go, it would likely come many years after theOkamisequel is released, as Clovers is a brand-new studio and is still rather small.
