Xbox Boss Finally Reveals Why Scalebound Was Cancelled


It’s been a week of ups and downs for Phil Spencer- the Xbox One X was a smash hit at E3, but fans were upset by the lack of Xbox exclusives announced. However, just like his great explanation for the lack of exclusives announced at E3, Spencer has just revealed the reason why Scalebound was cancelled.

Credit: PlatinumGames

Microsoft cancelled developer PlatinumGames’ action-RPG Scalebound not because of issues with the game, creative differences within the team, or even lack of resources. No, the game was cancelled because Phil Spencer and his team believed that the expectations for the game were so high that even the best effort by PlatinumGames wouldn’t have been up to the pre-release standards set for it by fans (even if the game were objectively incredible).

Credit: PlatinumGames

Spencer went on to explain how the early announcement for the game, which would have featured a badass main character and his scale-bound dragon partner defeating the forces of evil, hyped Scalebound up so much that the developers couldn’t possibly put out a game that would exceed expectations.

Credit: PlatinumGames

The Scalebound fiasco may have been another driving force behind Spencer’s decision to not announce any of the Xbox exclusives scheduled to be released 2 or 3 years from now at this year’s E3- he doesn’t want to have to kill another potentially great project because of unrealistic and unreachable expectations generated by the hype and excitement of fans.