Former PlatinumGames developer Hideki Kamiya has expressed interest in returning to work on Scalebound. New development studio Clovers has posted a video on social media platform X that showcases Kamiya excitedly looking at old trailers of the cancelled action game. He also took to the platform to call out Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, saying, “Let’s do it, Phil!”
“Noticed some excitement around Kamiya’s desk…” posted the Clovers X account. “He was reminiscing about the development of Scalebound while watching YouTube videos. It never made it to release, but even now, he still feels proud of it.”
The video itself has Kamiya excitedly showing old Scalebound trailers to colleagues at Clovers and talking about its various gameplay features.
“You can shoot in different directions,” explains Kamiya in the video. “Change the situation… He’s got his on headphones and smartphones.” When a colleague compares it to an Isekai anime, he responds, “Yeah, exactly! That’s the big trend right now.”
The Clovers account caps the post off by quoting Kamiya saying, “I’d love to make it again someday.”
Scalebound was an open-world action game that was originally developed exclusively for the Xbox One during Kamiya’s time at PlatinumGames. After spending a long time in development, however, the project was ultimately cancelled, with Spencer himself confirming that development on the title had stopped back in 2020.
According to developer PlatinumGames, the project was cancelled because the studio, along with Microsoft, couldn’t get the game to work. While he didn’t go into specifics, studio head at the time, Atsushi Inaba, chalked problems up to both sides, rather than laying the blame at either party in particular.
Since then, however, Kamiya has expressed interest in returning to work on Scalebound. He spoke about it in an interview back in 2022, saying he was “totally serious” about the idea. Kamiya chalked up the desire to see the project finished to him being a creator and hearing fans saying they would have liked to play it.
Rumours in 2023 indicated that Microsoft and PlatinumGames were in talks behind closed doors about reviving Scalebound. At the time, a discussion between the two companies was described as being in the “very early” stages.
Since then, however, Kamiya has left PlatinumGames, with the studio undergoing its own shift in employees and leadership. Back in December, Kamiya was announced as having joined Clovers, and working on a new Okami game alongside Capcom.
The sequel to Okami was unveiled with a highly stylised trailer during The Game Awards 2024. While no details have been revealed about the game yet, the description for the trailer said that it would be a “new adventure”. The title will feature Amaterasu returning as its protagonist, and will be continuing the story where the original Okami left off.
Capcom has also confirmed that Okami 2 is being developed using its in-house RE Engine – the same engine that powers a wide variety of games, including Street Fighter 6, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and every Resident Evil mainline game and remake since Resident Evil 7: biohazard. Its platforms have yet to be confirmed.
In the meantime, players can check out the original Okami thanks to HD remasters available on just about every modern gaming platform out today. Even Xbox Series X/S and PS5 can play the classic game thanks to backwards compatibility with the Xbox One and PS4 versions respectively.
Let’s do it, Phil ! 😀 https://t.co/BLdBs3hxGt
— 神谷英樹🍀 Hideki Kamiya🍀 (@HidekiKamiya_X) March 3, 2025
