Platinum Games’ Xbox One exclusive action game, Scalebound, is the first of its kind in many ways for the developer.
“The one thing that I will say is that up until this point in my career, and up until this point in Platinum Games’ history, we’ve never made a game like Scalebound,” Director Hideki Kamiya told IGN. “What I’m trying to do with Scalebound is create a very different kind of game than what I’ve created up until this point. We’re trying to create new gameplay, and that is a challenge for me personally.
For Kamiya, “It’s less about new hardware, and more about making something totally new.” That said, new hardware certainly contributes to what makes Scalebound a unique project for the Osaka, Japan-based studio.
“We’ve never tried to do something photo-real or something more realistic with that touch,” Kamiya explained, “but it’s always been something I’ve wanted to try. Now having that opportunity has been both difficult but interesting. And the power of the machine is helping there. It’s definitely something Platinum Games has wanted to try, and now we’re getting our chance to do it, which is cool.”
Scalebound is also distinct as a collaboration between Platinum, a Japanese developer, and Microsoft, a western publisher.
One of the things that happens, Kamiya explained, “is you’ll make something and put it aside or decide it’s good for now and we’ll tackle this later, and [Microsoft] will come to you and be like, ‘What are you going to do with this? Where are you going with this?’” In turn, this forces the team to “reevaluate ideas or push forward with them.”
"Working with western publishers is an important step for Platinum Games, and working with Microsoft, who believe in our vision for creating something new, has been a great learning experience for us so far," said Creative Producer JP Kellams. "We’ve developed a really open relationship between our two teams – like any relationship, that means lots of hard work, but that work is allowing us to make a game we’ve always wanted to make while growing as a studio.”
The benefit of these efforts is that Platinum’s Xbox One game releases sooner than it otherwise might.
“Microsoft is very hands on and they check everything while you’re working together,” Kamiya said. “One of the things we’ve noticed, because they keep you honest, is that we’ve been making this game faster than we normally would.”
