Microsoft has seemingly renewed its Scalebound trademark

"After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound," is what Microsoft said of Platinum Games' ill-fated Scalebound back in January.

Having been in development for almost four years, the action role-player's cancellation came as somewhat of a surprise—however it would now appear Microsoft has renewed its Scalebound trademark.

As reported by SomosXbox, via VG24/7, Microsoft has filed to extend the trademark—despite the game's website having been shuttered for some months, and the fact game director Hideki Kamiya issued a pretty explicit and conclusive apology to prospective players in the wake of the cancellation announcement.

Nonetheless, trademarking and copyright website Justia Trademarks suggests the publisher filed the trademark extension—for a second time—earlier this month.

This is of course far from conclusive, however we've reached out to Microsoft for comment in any event. We'll report back as and when they reply.

In the meantime, I'd like to turn this over to you guys: is Scalebound dead as we know it, or is there a chance development is back on behind closed doors?