The Last Guardian making “slow progress”

Posted February 11, 2012 by James Archer in News.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has shed some light on The Last Guardian’s development troubles, but says the project is progressing.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to be a little worried about The Last Guardian, the latest project from ICO creator Fumito Ueda. After years of development with only extremely sporadic glimpses of content being made available, the smell of vapourware is only growing stronger. Recently, the game has even been the subject of cancellation rumours, not helped by prior news of Ueda’s move from full-time to contracting work on the game.

Enter Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios. Speaking to 1up, Yoshida maintained development was advancing, albeit slowly, and elaborated on why The Last Guardian is taking as long as it is:

“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].“

With this blow-it-up-and-start-again approach, don’t expect The Last Guardian anytime soon. Still, of all the possible reasons for delays, satisfying creative urges remains one of the better ones.

Stick with BeefJack for more The Last Guardian news! Maybe. In a few months.

Tagged as Fumito Ueda, Ico, Shuhei Yoshida, Sony, Sony Worldwide Studios, The Last Guardian