Fri, Feb 10, 2012 | 14:13 GMT
Yoshida: The Last Guardian making “slow progress”
Sony WorldWide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has said The Last Guardian is still coming along nicely, but it’s making “slow progress.”

Yoshida told 1UP at DICE that despite stopping as a full-time employee from the company, Fumito Ueda is still coming in daily to Team ICO to work on the OTT-delayed game on a contractual basis, as previously announced.
“He comes in every day, and he’s probably one of the people who works the longest hours,” he said.
“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].”
Yoshida’s comments are on par with what he said in Cologne last August at gamescom, telling VG247 the game was “still making progress,” adding it’d “continue to support” it.
As for Ueda’s ‘departure’, it was actually more of an rearrangement to let him do more creative work on the project.
“Well it’s confirmed in terms of the status of his relation to the company — he was an employee, and now he’s working on a contract basis,’ said Yoshida.
“You know, we discussed an arrangement so he could focus on the creative side. But his work and his presence on that team never changed, so it was just more a contractual rearrangement, and that was taken as ‘he left’.”


11 comments
#1
FeaturePreacher
10/02/12, 2:35 pm
My guess is that it won’t be out until 2014, 2015, unless the publisher forces is out before the developer says it’s finished.
#2
TD_Monstrous69
10/02/12, 2:43 pm
If this makes it out this year, I’d honestly be amazed (going on the sound of things here). Though none the less, I really hope this comes out by the end of this year, and also that they finally show some gameplay on this at E3.
#3
SplatteredHouse
10/02/12, 2:47 pm
This game’s development.
It’s as if they got a creative dynamo, intense personality, and he’s the flagstone of the project and they don’t want to risk shortening the leash, for fear LG just has the air taken right out of it. How expensive must this game be for Sony, so far?
I still wish to see it, but it doesn’t look as if they have anything they can show, right now. I just hope it works out for them, whatever it turns out to be once development concludes. But, honestly, how much do Sony have invested in Last Guardian…
#4
The_Red
10/02/12, 2:58 pm
After all this time, this type of news is really worrying. DNF type of worrying.
#5
V
10/02/12, 6:15 pm
this game canceled
#6
Lahanas
11/02/12, 12:24 am
Sony japan has been utterly worthless this gen and this proves it once more.
#7
Clupula
11/02/12, 12:37 am
Take as much time as you guys need to make it perfect, I say.
#8
mojo
11/02/12, 9:31 am
PS4 it will be.
im telling u, this will be the first dev/game that skips an entire generation
#9
sg1974
11/02/12, 1:52 pm
You’d have though SCE would have learnt a lesson from the GT5 clusterfuck. Creative geniuses become increasingly appalling managers and detached from business priorities. Ueda and Kaz should be removed and given symbolic adviser statuses.
#10
mojo
11/02/12, 5:41 pm
you should be removed…
remove kaz. lol
fail
that would kill everything gt stands for and i dont think i would buy it anymore.
kaz is the heart and soul of that company and ip.
it wouldnt be the same anymore, but i want it to be exactly as it is.
and unless ico polyphonys games sell alot.
and its not only the big GTs their making.
ppl mostly only see tghe big GTs but theyre also making prologue, psp game and even some gameing-unrelated stuff.
dont think kaz will go too soon. hes an sce vice president for a reason.
#11
Mace
12/02/12, 3:05 am
I never expected otherwise and think it will turn out just fine. The only little bit of doubt I ever had is about whether the whole “cuteness” idea (though transcended) was completely his own or if he wasn’t nudged in that direction for marketing reasons. But that’s just speculation and from what we’ve seen we don’t have to worry he’ll make it unique.