Scalebound Originally Had Dinosaurs, Not Dragons

Scalebound director Hideki Kamiya has revealed that the idea for the game has been percolating at Platinum Games since the developer's earliest days. The concept for game--"large-scale" encounters--remained the same over the years, but an earlier version had dinosaurs, not the dragons we know today.

"After I left Capcom and we established Platinum Games, the kernel of the Scalebound idea was actually one of the first concept pitches," Kamiya told Metro. "The other one was Bayonetta, and we had a few others. For one reason or another we went with Bayonetta first, but at that point it was not even dragons; it was dinosaurs."

"But the common theme here is that I wanted to realize this game in the way that these two large-scale creatures were going at each other," he added. "And how can we make this work where you are not just the observer of what's taking place but helping as well."

That was the original concept for what would become Scalebound, but Kamiya admitted that "it needed more work." The game was put back on the shelf as Platinum worked on Bayonetta, after which the studio turned its attention back to the game and made a major creature change.

"So at that time we actually managed to pull together a prototype, and when we decided to make a prototype I switched over the subject matter from dinosaurs to dragons," he said.

Kamiya and his team put together a new prototype, this one featuring dragons, but the project never got off the ground because Platinum didn't find a publishing partner.

"So again, it went back into the closet," he said.

With Scalebound stalled again, Platinum shifted its focus to The Wonderful 101 for Wii U. After that game shipped, Platinum put together a "refined" version of the concept for Scalebound and pitched it to Microsoft.

"Fortunately, they were very interested, and they wanted to know more about it," Kamiya explained.

Scalebound launches in 2016 exclusively for Xbox One. At Gamescom earlier this month, Platinum confirmed that the game will have four-player co-op.