Hideki Kamiya Says He Is 100 Percent Serious About Reviving Xbox's Canceled Scalebound

By CriticalPixel · 2026-09-08

Hideki Kamiya will not let Scalebound die quietly. Nearly ten years after Microsoft pulled the plug on the PlatinumGames dragon epic, the director behind Bayonetta, Okami, and Devil May Cry has gone on record again saying he wants to finish the job. In a new interview, Kamiya said he is 100 percent serious about resurrecting the canceled Xbox exclusive, and he aimed the pitch directly at new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

What Scalebound Actually Played Like

The pitch was strange in the best way. You played as Drew, a human pulled from our world into Draconis, a realm covered in twisting trees and floating islands. Thuban, his dragon companion, was never a sidekick. Xbox Wire's own coverage described him as the stronger, more knowledgeable half of the pair, an AI controlled dragon who fought independently while Drew backed him up with a sword and Pulse Energy abilities, including a transformation called Dragon Form. Beating enemies without vaporizing them let players harvest gems to customize Thuban's body parts and combat style, layering a collection loop on top of the action. It looked genuinely different from anything else Microsoft had lined up for that console generation.

Drew and his dragon companion Thuban face off against enemies in Scalebound concept art from Xbox Wire

A Decade Of Almosts

Scalebound was never a small project. Announced in 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive, the action RPG paired Drew and Thuban against legions of enemy soldiers and monster bosses. Xbox Wire treated it as a marquee upcoming exclusive throughout 2015 and 2016, running gamescom previews, boss fight breakdowns, and dragon customization features. Then in January 2017, after roughly four years in development, Microsoft canceled the game outright. PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba later said blame for the collapse belonged to both sides, pointing at a rocky Unreal Engine transition and a studio still learning the tech under a tight timeline.

What Kamiya Actually Said

The new comments come from an interview picked up by Eurogamer, which reported that Kamiya was asked point blank whether he has spoken to Sharma about reviving the game. His answer was no, but he made clear he is not closing the door. Now's my opportunity to once again say that if they want to do it, let's make it happen, Kamiya said, adding that several former PlatinumGames staff currently work at his newer studio Clovers. He went further, calling it very unfortunate that the project never saw the light of day and repeating that he remains 100 percent serious about wanting to finish it if the chance ever comes back around.

Clovers Has Other Priorities Right Now

There is a catch, and Kamiya did not hide it. Clovers is currently deep into Okami 2 for Capcom, a sequel that took years of lobbying before it finally got greenlit, and Kamiya admitted his studio might not be in a position to take on Scalebound immediately. His argument is about persistence rather than timing. Okami 2 proves that a project everyone assumed was dead can still return if someone keeps pushing for it, and he is betting the same logic eventually applies to Scalebound. French outlet GeekNPlay ran the same interview highlights and noted Kamiya even joked that his old collaborator Koyama is on board too, half challenging journalists covering the story to help make the pitch land with Sharma.

Scalebound gameplay footage showing Drew fighting alongside the dragon Thuban in Draconis

Fans Have Heard This Before

This is not the first time Kamiya has floated a Scalebound comeback. He has brought it up periodically since the cancellation, including an earlier appeal aimed at Xbox's previous leadership that went nowhere. That history is shaping how people are reacting now. Posts responding to the story across social media have leaned hopeful but guarded, with several accounts framing it as a nostalgia play more than a real production update, and at least one asking outright whether Xbox should actually give the game a second chance rather than assuming it will happen. It reads like a fanbase that liked what it saw of Drew and Thuban back in 2015 but has been burned by false hope before, so reaction stays cautious rather than celebratory until something more concrete shows up.

The CriticalPixel Take

Xbox does not have a strong track record of resurrecting scrapped exclusives, and a director saying let's make it happen in an interview is a long way from a signed contract. But Sharma inherited a platform that badly needs recognizable, first party swings after years of quiet cancellations and studio closures, and Scalebound already comes with built in nostalgia, a known creative voice, and gameplay footage that still looks better than plenty of games that actually shipped. Reviving it would cost real money and pull PlatinumGames alumni away from Okami 2, so nobody should expect an announcement this week. What is worth watching is whether Xbox's new leadership responds publicly at all. Silence would mean this ages like every other Scalebound tease of the last decade. A real meeting between Kamiya and Sharma would mean the story just got a lot more interesting.

For now, Scalebound remains what it has been since 2017, unfinished business that refuses to go away. Kamiya clearly still cares about it, Clovers still has its hands full with Okami 2, and Xbox still has not said a word publicly. Whether that changes depends entirely on whether Sharma decides an old dragon is worth a second chance.