PlatinumGames has been making headlines all week thanks to the revival of The Wonderful 101 and four mystery projects. The studio hasn't fully moved on from some of its other games just yet though, as the studio would still be interested in reviving Scalebound and bringing Switch exclusive ‘Astral Chain' to other platforms.
The common issue with both Scalebound and Astral Chain is that PlatinumGames does not fully own the IP. Nintendo allowed Platinum to remaster and release The Wonderful 101 on other platforms on its own, leading to the current Kickstarter campaign for funding. Speaking with Video Game Chronicle, PlatinumGames head, Atsushi Inaba, shared that Astral Chain is “owned half by Platinum and half by Nintendo”, so Nintendo would need to give permission for the game to appear on other platforms. Platinum is open to exploring the idea though, so this could be something to keep an eye out for.
As reported by Eurogamer, Scalebound is something that Platinum would “love to go back to” if the opportunity arises, but the intellectual properly “belongs 100% to Microsoft”. For Scalebound to come back in any form, Microsoft would need to give the greenlight, whether that is by striking up a new publishing deal, or by relinquishing the IP rights to PlatinumGames.
In the meantime, we can expect The Wonderful 101 Remastered from PlatinumGames to land on Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Bayonetta 3 is also in development for the Nintendo Switch and thanks to some new funding, the studio also has several other projects in the works.
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KitGuru Says: PlatinumGames has made some of my favourite games, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds. Astral Chain in particular is a game I'd like to see spread out to other platforms. Scalebound seems unlikely for a revival but Xbox runs very differently nowadays, so it isn't an impossible outcome.