Ben-DutkaThe Last Guardian has been taking a while. And after the report that Fumito Ueda is no longer a Sony employee, everyone began to worry.
But 1Up got some clarification and an update on the situation. In speaking to Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida at a DICE conference, we learn a few important pieces of information:
Firstly, reports that Ueda had "left" are a little misleading. Although he's not technically a Sony employee and is now working on a contractual basis to finish the game, he hasn't really gone anywhere. As Yoshida said, "his work and his presence on that team never changed." He added that Ueda "comes in every day and he's probably one of the people who works the longest hours."
However, Yoshida confirmed that the game is making "slow progress." And that's because Ueda's vision is a tough one to realize:
"The project has been making progress, but slow progress. So that's tough, but we haven't changed any focus. It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized, and Fumito's vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers, so there's some scrapping and rebuilding — iteration in the process. That's why [it's taking so long]."
Well, you know these perfectionists. Everything has to be just so or they won't let it out the door. The only problem is that with more time comes more anticipation and more skepticism, and let's not forget that this generation is getting a little long in the tooth… We still can't wait for The Last Guardian , though.
Related Game(s): The Last Guardian
My only question is, what will become of Team Ico when Fumito Ueda leaves? Will they continue developing games without him, similar to Team Ninja without Tomonobu Itagaki or will they dissolve into SCE Japan Studio?
Can't wait for The Last Guardian though. Ueda, you will be very missed.
Considering this a game like nothing else this gen Im willing to wait it for it. I would love to know the details of Ueda new status.
I don't know the exact details, but he is on record stating he wants to make the best FACEBOOK game ever. 🙁
Excesior I thought that was another guy?
Hmm. You may be right. One of The Last Guardian's producer's left Sony right before Ueda did and he joined UK social game developer Bossa studios. I think I confused Hamaya for Ueda. There are headlines out there that link Ueda to social gaming but when I read the full articles they only mention Hamaya so I guess it's unclear what Ueda's plans are after The Last Guardian.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 2/10/2012 1:26:11 PM
I've been wanting this game so badly for so long…
The recent HD collection placated me for a while, but now I'm back in anticipation mode. I've always had high hopes for Last Guardian, but now I'm just hoping that it will actually release before the next Gen overshadows this one.
You can do it Team ICO! gumbi has faith!
Scrapping and rebuilding. Slow progress. Ueda's vision is a difficult one to realize. Hmm…potential PS4 release?
I think they mean putting his ideas in paper in the videogame, not technology-wise.
I think Excelsior is referring to the fact it is taking so long that it won't come out this gen because of long development cycle rather than the PS3 not being able to handle it technologically.
Last edited by MyWorstNightmar on 2/10/2012 1:45:13 PM
"Slow progress."
The understatement of the year.
Still, can't wait to finally play the game. I've been waiting for this one for what seems like forever now.
Last edited by Hynad on 2/10/2012 12:45:27 PM
PS4 or bust
Plenty of other games to hold me over. Still have yet to crack the plastic on my ICO collections.
we need exactly this kind of vision in this gen, period.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
sorry, was super excited for this was on the edge of my seat for years!
but its been so long ive had to replace it 20 times, and now this ones right down to the floor!
ill get excited again when its in my hands, IF it ever releases………
and we all thought GT5 was bad!
It doesn't sound like the problem is that he's a perfectionist, it sounds like the problem is that he has no clear idea of what he wants to do.