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Fumito Ueda No Longer Works For Sony

Designer still contracted to work on The Last Guardian.

The Last Guardian has been kicked around the last few years, but Ueda says it's still happening.
The Last Guardian has been kicked around the last few years, but Ueda says it's still happening.

Just because a company says “no comment” doesn’t mean it’s true, but when the question is as simple as whether a lauded, acclaimed employee like Fumito Ueda is still working for you, that’s an easy one to answer.

The rumors were true, unfortunately.

Sony has issued a statement to Gamasutra confirming the lead designer on Ico and Shadow of the Colossus has officially left the company.

Ueda is still contracted to work on the still-in-development The Last Guardian, and is apparently “committed to completing” the game.

The Last Guardian is scheduled for a release in 2012, but the game has been delayed several times.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

65 Comments

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Rio

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Edited By Rio

Hopefully The Last Guardian is a final great epic for Ueda and the Ico "series". Hopefully. Of course I will continue to follow whatever else he works on.

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Faint

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Edited By Faint

This game has been delayed and delayed and delayed again and I can't help but wonder if that could be the reason for him leaving Sony. They need to get this product out as soon as humanly possible. They've surely lost a lot paying staff to work on it for this extended amount of time.

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thecashewkid

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Edited By thecashewkid

I'm really curious as to how everything went down here. Let's face it: Ueda is never going to get a deal like he had with Sony with anybody else. Sony gave him seemingly unlimited resources so that he could develop artistic showpieces for their consoles. That said, he hasn't lived up to his end of the bargain this generation. I can imagine that there have been many conflicts between Ueda and Sony as of late, and I can't help but feel that Ueda is at least as much to blame for them as Sony. He's supposed to make games, and there's very little evidence of him doing that as of late. Combine that with the lukewarm response that the much-delayed GT5 received, and I'd be shocked if Sony wasn't nudging him a bit. It's fine to be a perfectionist, but you still have to deliver a product. Ueda hasn't done that in a long, long time.

All that said, this is a huge loss for everybody, not just Sony. Nobody is ever going to give Ueda the freedom and the resources that Sony gave him, and are people really that excited about the prospect of him making smaller games? That's like people being relieved that, once the Sistine Chapel was finished, Michealangelo was free to doodle some postcards. Is Ueda even interested in making something like an iPhone game? Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are unique because they are ambitious and epic in a way that nobody else has the gumption, the resources, or the ability to make. The Last Guardian will hopefully deliver on the promise of those two games when it finally comes out. There's a very good chance that we'll never see anything like that again, or at least not for a very, very long time. I'm not even much of a fan of his work, but I'm immensely pleased that it exists. It's distressing because if Sony, a platform holder which places a premium on the high end creations of artists like Ueda, can't make something like this work, then it's doubtful that anybody else can and it's even more doubtful that anybody else would be willing to.

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RE_Player1

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Edited By RE_Player1

I love the guy, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are masterpieces in my opinion, but I can see Sony growing tired of the constant delays and slow progress on the game. I hope Last Guardian comes out 2012 and it's truly amazing like his others works.

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probablytuna

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Edited By probablytuna

As long as the quality of the game is maintained (and is still scheduled to be released in the near future) then I don't mind it. All the best to you and your future endeavors Mr. Ueda.

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geirr

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Edited By geirr

What a joke.

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sofakingstewpit

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Edited By sofakingstewpit

It's too bad he's leaving but this good be a good thing in the long run. Maybe this will offer him more freedom.

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RagingLion

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Edited By RagingLion

@Twinsun said:

Hmm.. wonder what this will mean in the long haul.

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blurienh

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Edited By blurienh

Hopefully it's not the last nail in the coffin for last guardian.

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dvorak

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Edited By dvorak

Pretty sure this won't really change anything.

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Simulacrum

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Edited By Simulacrum

@iAmJohn said:

@jakob187

Ueda can go multi-platform now? Probably the best news that I've heard all goddamn year.

Let's be honest: he'll probably go iPhone.

I hope this isn't really the case. :(

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Ramone

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Edited By Ramone
apparently “committed to completing” the game.

WHAT! Are you trying to call Famito Ueda a liar Klepek? FUCK YOU MAN YOUR VOICE IS ANNOYING AND SHIT AND YOU HAVE CURLY HAIR!

P.S

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Boopie

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Edited By Boopie

the screw you for Sony in this game is a 6 year development cycle for a game that won't sell 200,000 copies

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napalm

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Edited By napalm

Who?

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WhiteThought

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Edited By WhiteThought

When I first saw this rumor, it immediately made me worry, just due to the fact it's one of the only PS3 games I've actually been looking forward to being released. Glad to hear it will still be completed