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Hideki Kamiya teases that he'd work on Scalebound again given the chance

The Clovers studio lead jokingly called out Xbox's Phil Spencer on the topic of Scalebound, saying 'let's do it, Phil!'

TJ Denzer

March 3, 2025 12:22 PM

Image via Xbox

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Scalebound still stands out as one of the most high-profile and unfortunate game cancellations of all time, but hope still lingers in various corners of the internet that it may someday be salvaged. Hideki Kamiya himself may be counted among the hopeful, because recently he was seen musing over bits that were developed for the game, saying that he wouldn’t mind taking another crack at Scalebound someday.

Kamiya’s continued interest in the game was shared in a social media interaction between himself and his studio, Clovers Inc. The studio shared a video of staff around Kamiya’s desk, apparently looking over old YouTube footage of the game and talking about its development. As staff spoke with him, Hideki Kamiya explained that the game was like an Isekai story (a fish-out-of-water, “transported to a strange world” scenario in Japanese games and media), which were trending heavily at the time of Scalebound’s development.

“I’d love to make it again someday,” Kamiya added, as quoted by Clovers Inc.

However, Kamiya also confirmed his own interest, calling out Xbox lead Phil Spencer on the matter.

Let’s do it, Phil ! :D https://t.co/BLdBs3hxGt

— 神谷英樹🍀 Hideki Kamiya🍀 (@HidekiKamiya_X) March 3, 2025

“Let’s do it, Phil!,” Hideki Kamiya said in his own quote-retweet on top of the original Clovers Inc. video, undoubtedly referring to Phil Spencer at Xbox, the latter of which is still in control of the rights to the Scalebound IP.

The last we heard from Phil Spencer himself on the matter, he’s been pretty dismal on the idea of Scalebound being restarted. However, Kamiya has come at Xbox several times over the years with interest, whether through PlatinumGames or his own outreach.

As things go now, Scalebound is still a dead IP, but hope springs eternal that as long as there’s interest, there’s a chance of it coming back. As we watch to see if Kamiya someday gets his way, stay tuned for other Clovers Inc. game news and updates on the next Okami game and more.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.