Hideki Kamiya says he is "100% serious" about reviving Xbox's cancelled Scalebound

Hideki Kamiya, the director behind Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 2 and Okami, has said he is "100% serious" about wanting to bring back Scalebound, the Xbox action-RPG that was cancelled in 2017 after roughly four years in development.

Speaking to VGC, Kamiya — now leading his new studio Clovers — confirmed he has not held any official talks with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma about reviving the project. Even so, he made his position clear. "Now's my opportunity to once again say that if they want to do it, let's make it happen!" he said. He added that the cancellation remains a sore point: "Of course, it's very unfortunate that the project was unable to see the light of day ultimately, and that is something that even now I still very strongly desire to be able to see through if it's all possible, and I'm being 100% serious when I say that."

Kamiya also noted that a number of former PlatinumGames staff now work at Clovers, and that the team still discusses Scalebound internally. He drew a parallel with Okami, which is finally getting a sequel more than two decades after the original. "I strongly believe that if you want something strongly enough, you eventually find a way to make it happen," he said. "That's the case with Okami right now, where even after all these years, the opportunity once again presented itself, and I hope that will be the case with Scalebound in the future as well."

A studio already busy with Okami 2

While Kamiya's enthusiasm is clear, he acknowledged that Clovers is not ready to take on another large project at the moment. The studio is currently focused on Okami 2, which is being published by Capcom. "We might not be in a position to do that right this second," he admitted. That suggests any Scalebound revival would have to wait until after Okami 2 ships, though no timeline for either project has been announced.

The director's comments are not the first time he has expressed interest in returning to Scalebound in recent years, but the fact that the subject is still being raised, and that former members of the original team are now at Clovers, has renewed speculation about the game's future.

A rocky history and a possible second chance

Scalebound was originally announced as an Xbox One exclusive in 2014. It was developed by PlatinumGames and published by Microsoft Studios, and its early trailers generated considerable excitement. The game cast players as a headphone-wearing, sword-wielding protagonist accompanied by a huge dragon that could chomp enemies, cause chaos and spray fire across the battlefield.

Microsoft ultimately pulled the plug in 2017 after roughly four years of development. A few years later, PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba said both parties shared the blame for the project's demise. The game never reached a playable state for the public, and its cancellation was widely seen as one of the most high-profile casualties of that console generation.

Kamiya has not yet discussed his revival hopes with the game's current rights holders, which means development could not begin for some time even if approval were granted. The project would also need to be rebuilt from scratch. Still, Xbox's current push for major new releases could offer a more receptive environment than the one that existed when Scalebound was cancelled, and the original development team's reported inexperience at the time is no longer a factor, as many of those staff have spent years working in the industry since.

For now, Kamiya's words remain a statement of intent rather than a concrete plan. No publisher has confirmed a Scalebound revival, and no release window has been announced. But the director's repeated public interest, combined with the reunion of key talent at Clovers, means the cancelled game is once again part of the conversation.