It may be over eight and a half years since Microsoft cancelled Scalebound, the action game it would publish as a PC and Xbox exclusive from developer PlatinumGames, but Game Director Hideki Kamiya still hasn't let this go.
In the following years, the veteran game designer and director, whose works include Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Ōkami, Bayonetta, and The Wonderful 101 among others, often remarked on how disappointed he was in what happened with that project. Earlier this year, he even said he'd love to resurrect Scalebound someday.
In a fresh interview with VideoGamesChronicle, he returned to the subject from another perspective: discussing the differences between Japanese and Western publishers.
What it feels like when working with Japanese publishers is that the development culture feels closer to mind, and they tend to be more understanding toward creators. On the Japanese side, my impression is that they see you’re trying to make a new invention. They understand the struggle of trying to give birth to something new, and they watch over the process with patience. That’s where I see there’s a difference with publishers.
When asked if Scalebound could have made it with a Japanese publisher, Kamiya answered that overseas publishers (like Microsoft in this case) tend to want a game done as quickly as possible. In contrast, Japanese ones might have been more understanding of the difficulties.
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
As Kamiya had mentioned before, PlatinumGames did not have a frame of reference for a game where players controlled a dragon and a human character at the same time, which caused problems. Still, having said that, the game director maintains that the ultimate responsibility was his, and with Scalebound's experience, he might work better with a Western publisher in the future.
Kamiya is now working at Clovers, a new studio developing an Ōkami sequel for CAPCOM.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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