Microsoft’s highly anticipated Xbox exclusive Scalebound was unfortunately gone before it was ever really here, with the game being cancelled roughly three years after it was originally announced at E3 2014. Despite rumors about a recent revival for the Nintendo Switch, the project is seemingly dead in the water, leaving fans without a clear answer as to the reason why. Thankfully, it appears we have some chance at closure thanks to some new info from developer PlatinumGames.

PlatinumGames boss Atsushi Inaba recently sat down with the folks at VGC to discuss Scalebound, revealing some reasoning as to why the game was eventually cancelled. “Both sides failed,” Inaba revealed. “Scalebound didn’t do all of the things that we needed to do as a developer. Watching fans getting angry at Microsoft over the cancellation wasn’t easy for us to watch. Because the reality is, when any game in development can’t get released it’s because both sides failed.”

I think there are areas where we could’ve done better and I’m sure there are areas that Microsoft as a publishing partner wish that they could’ve done better. Because nobody wants a game to be cancelled.”

Inaba then went on to discuss the silver lining of the whole ordeal, which reportedly helped PlatinumGames grow as a studio. “At the bare minimum, it’s unique for us as a title in so much as we feel that we didn’t do all of the things that we needed to do as a developer,” he said. “There were a lot of painful lessons, but that helped us grow as a studio. We obviously can’t go into details about it, because there are rules of engagement as a developer. We want to make sure that the publisher who gave us a chance to make a game in the first place isn’t treated poorly. The truth is, we don’t like to see Microsoft take the brunt of the fan ire because game development is hard and both sides learned lessons, for sure.”

Scalebound was the unfortunate victim of a game being revealed too soon, a mistake becoming more common among publishers in the gaming industry. Here’s hoping that both PlatinumGames and Microsoft really have learned for the ordeal, as folks from all sides of the industry don’t want to see this happen again.

So, thoughts on the latest info from Atsushi Inaba? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!