Scalebound might have been different under a Japanese publisher claims Hideki Kamiya

To this day, one of the biggest "what ifs" in gaming is Scalebound, an action game that was in production at PlatinumGames with funding and publishing support from Microsoft. It was a game that caught the attention of many when it was announced and then disappointed even more folk when it was eventually cancelled and shut down.

There have been recent hopes that Scalebound may eventually be restarted, but it still feels unlikely that the game will see the light of day. We say this as former PlatinumGames lead Hideki Kamiya, who now heads up the developer Clovers Inc. and is working on a sequel to Okami, has spoken with VGC where he suggested that things could have been different for Scalebound had the game been backed by a Japanese publisher.

"I do think it would've been different. I don't mean that if it had been a Japanese publisher, the game would necessarily have been completed and released, but I imagine the process itself would have played out differently.

"Japanese companies tend to be more open to new challenges, and I think the conversations would have been more positive, like, 'Okay, so how should we approach this together?' For me personally, overseas publishers seem to have a much stronger desire to see a finished product as quickly as possible. If it had been a Japanese publisher, I feel they might have given us more leeway.

"We're talking about this specific title as an example, however, I don't want there to be any misunderstanding - the failure of Scalebound was ultimately the responsibility of PlatinumGames, myself as director included. But because I have now experienced working with overseas publishers, I feel that if the opportunity ever comes again, we'll find a way to take advantage of both sides' strengths."

Would you like to see Scalebound ultimately become a reality?