Devil May Cry and Bayonetta veteran Hideki Kamiya would still "love to make" his canceled dragon action RPG Scalebound: "Let's do it, Phil!"

Scalebound
(Image credit: PlatinumGames)

Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Okami veteran Hideki Kamiya still has a lot of love for PlatinumGames' canceled action RPG Scalebound, and says he'd "love to make it again someday."

Scalebound was set to be the ultimate game for anyone who loves dragons, as you'd be able to embark on an adventure with a draconic partner at your side, who was ready to assist in battle and listen to your commands. Alas, while it was supposed to release on Xbox One and PC back in 2017, Scalebound ultimately ended up being canceled by Microsoft, and Kamiya – who directed the game – previously admitted that "we weren't experienced enough" to overcome the hurdles the devs needed to finish it. "We were developing on the Unreal engine, we also lacked the necessary know-how to build a game based on online features," he explained.

Flash forward to today, and Kamiya is now working on a sequel to Okami at CLOVERS, a new game studio. Even though that's definitely enough to keep the developer busy, a new video shared from the studio's Twitter account today shows Kamiya "reminiscing about the development of Scalebound" while watching old videos of it. Even though it was never released, the studio says Kamiya "still feels proud of it," and the director himself says "I'd love to make it again someday."

In the video itself, as he watches the old footage, Kamiya points out that "even now, [the game] looks great," and CLOVERS' CEO and president Kento Koyama chimes in at the end, noting that "I've wanted to do this ever since I first worked with Kamiya-san."

Kamiya isn't just gently hinting that he'd like to return to the action RPG, though, as he's taken to Twitter to seemingly ask Xbox boss Phil Spencer about it, too. "Let's do it, Phil!" he declares, resharing the video. He hasn't tagged the guy, but plenty of enthusiastic fans in the replies have done so in his stead, although at the time of writing, the head of Microsoft Gaming hasn't publicly responded. To be fair, it's only been a few hours, so it doesn't necessarily mean he won't.

This isn't the first time that the idea of reviving Scalebound has been brought up. Back in 2020, Atsushi Inaba, who's now PlatinumGames' CEO, said in a (translated) interview that it "belongs 100% to Microsoft," so the studio itself didn't have the power to do anything with it unless Microsoft gave the go-ahead, but "if the opportunity arises, it's something we would love to return to."

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Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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