Was This Long-Forgotten Unreleased Title the Ultimatum for Xbox in Console Wars?

Microsoft’s Xbox is among the three primary players in gaming nowadays. This did not start all of a sudden either; the Xbox became a thing back in 2001 and was an instant hit. It must have been Halo that pulled the crowd. Nevertheless, it really showed that Microsoft was dedicated to pushing its gaming hardware.

Ever since then, Xbox has been a strong competitor to Sony’s PlayStation console. But nowadays, its popularity has been dwindling. Almost everyone blames it on the lack of proper support from Microsoft. But some say there was one game that might have steered this brand in a different direction.

Would Platinum Games’ Scalebound have increased the Xbox console’s fanbase?

People still remember the reveal of the Xbox One console; it was no short of a disaster. Imagine a console that blocked used games behind a paywall, focused more on being a set-top box, and refused to work without an internet connection. That was the pitch for the Xbox One. It did not sell, and that presentation led to Microsoft losing a big share of its fans to Sony’s PlayStation.

To remedy this, they introduced a new head of Xbox, Phil Spencer. He pretty much fixed everything that fans did not like about the brand. It became more game-focused; the newer Xbox consoles even embraced backward compatibility in a big way. And somewhere in between those things in 2014, Scalebound was announced.

The director was none other than Bayonetta’s Hideki Kamiya, and its announcement trailer was intriguing, to say the least. This game, though, had a troubled development process. Fans got a brief look at it now and then, but its release date never came. And before Kamiya and his team could complete the game, Microsoft decided to pull the plug.

Many fans were disappointed, as a partnership with Platinum Games was a big deal for Xbox. It never had a strong standing in Japan, and partnering on a big game with a renowned Japanese studio would have piqued some interest, but the cancellation of that game blew all the chances.

Read More: Revealed: Hidden Genius Behind Halo Set to Leave Microsoft After Two Decades

Maybe a rise in popularity in Japan would have enticed more Japanese developers to start working with Microsoft, but they never took that chance. And ever since, the fans wonder how things could have changed if Scalebound actually launched!

Today, Xbox boss Phil Spencer can be seen talking about Xbox’s possibility of winning the console war. He specifically says, “There’s no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5s.”

He mentions that this game of superiority started last generation and Scalebound was canceled during that generation; maybe they could have done better if they had decided to release it last generation.

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