Fumito Ueda is completing work on the game as a freelancer, according to Eurogamer‘s Japanese video game development sources. Once complete he will embark on “personal projects,” the site reports.
News on The Last Guardian has been oddly slow in coming since its E3 reveal in 2009. The game didn’t make any appearances at trade shows this year. In a September update, Sony said that Team Ico was still “hard at work,” on the game.
Sony declined to comment on the rumour to Eurogamer. We’ve also reached out to the company for comment.
The Last Guardian creator Fumito Ueda leaves Sony – rumour [Eurogamer]
GoodOleTones
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:23 AMUh oh…i want the last guardian really bad…
Braaains
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:48 AMThat’s a huge loss for Sony if true. Also adds to my growing sense of unease about The Last Guardian given the delays and general lack of info about it.
Gleno
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 8:15 AMjeeez … this is a rumour though right? And it say’s he’s completing this title.
Hard to imagine him getting a chance to develop games so slowly, and so left-field, without the backing of Sony.
Thom
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 8:50 AMI hope this isn’t true, this guy is clearly the best thing in gaming and I think its best for gamers if he’s at a major studio. He could be planning to do a Jonathan Blow, which could be good.
seen it before
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 9:37 AMif accurate, this has all the hallmarks of the money being tired of waiting to see the product they’re paying for to hit the market, and pushing the difficult/perfectionist/lazy/whatever creative leadership aside to finsih the job.
Rockstar do it, Activision do it, Pixar do it… and Sony do it.
Johnny Sweetbread
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 11:04 AMI suspect there was some sort of falling out. Maybe he was trying to Molyneuxify the game, promising the world but not delivering.
DeeK
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 12:35 PMWell, I’m not worried about the release time for TLG being pushed back. I’m worried that corners will now be cut with the game. Ueda is a perfectionist, so it’s not too surprising about delays. I’d sure like his vision to be completely realised, though, instead of some half-assed version of it.
DeeK
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 12:38 PMAlso, if the rumor is true, then this is pretty much the end of Team ICO. This game is their last hurrah. I’m saddened by the thought.