The dream to revive Scalebound still endures, as game director Hideki Kamiya stated he was open to pitching the idea to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Originally directed by Kamiya, Scalebound was first revealed at E3 2014 as a new IP developed by PlatinumGames and published by Xbox.
As an Xbox One console-exclusive title at the time, Scalebound was an action-RPG set in the world of Draconis. The main protagonist, Drew, would have been accompanied by his dragon companion named Thuban. However, Scalebound was canceled in January 2017. Despite PlatinumGames’ involvement, the Scalebound IP remains in Microsoft’s possession as of this writing. Since then, Kamiya left PlatinumGames and went on to join Clovers in 2023. Clovers took its name from the defunct Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio, which worked on titles such as Okami and Viewtiful Joe.
Kamiya Says He’s Open to Discussing Scalebound With Asha Sharma
-
Image via Microsoft, PlatinumGames -
Image via Microsoft, PlatinumGames -
Image via Microsoft, PlatinumGames
Although Kamiya has repeatedly expressed interest in bringing back Scalebound, a new opportunity has presented itself. In a VGC interview, Kamiya said that he has not had the chance to speak with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma about bringing back Scalebound. Kamiya said he was willing to “make it happen” if Xbox wished for the same. Kamiya said that, while two of Scalebound‘s original development team are now at Clovers, others have gone to work for Capcom. Kamiya said that, while Clovers may not be in the best position at the present to bring back Scalebound at the moment, he believes that if people want something strongly enough, they may find a way to still make it happen. Kamiya said the upcoming sequel to Okami was only made possible by that same desire and hoped that Scalebound will have a similar response in the future.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
Sharma took over for outgoing Xbox CEO Phil Spencer in February 2026. During her tenure, Xbox has pivoted away from its previous multiplatform game release approach toward making some first-party titles Xbox console exclusives again. However, the approach is not universal across Xbox’s repertoire. While upcoming games like Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, July’s launch of Halo: Campaign Evolved also saw the game arrive on PS5 consoles. It is also unclear if anticipated games, such as The Elder Scrolls 6, will be released on multiple platforms or become exclusive to Microsoft’s ecosystem.
However, Sharma’s tenure with Xbox has also been marred by mass layoffs conducted throughout the summer. Following layoffs at id Software, lead services programmer Chris Hays called the job cuts “inhumane” and stated that morale at the Texas-based studio was at an all-time low. Hays also revealed that DOOM: The Dark Ages‘ DLC expansion, Revelations, was made under severe development crunch. The layoffs were felt across all of Microsoft’s subsidiaries, with some developers such as Double Fine and Compulsion Games becoming independent studios.
As for Kamiya, he and Clovers are currently developing the Okami sequel, which has no release date as of this writing. It remains to be seen when Kamiya will share more details about the upcoming project.
- Released
-
January 1, 2017
- ESRB
-
t
- Publisher(s)
-
Microsoft Studios
- Engine
-
Unreal Engine 4
- Multiplayer
-
Online Multiplayer
