Fumito Ueda quits Sony - rumour
Will finish final game, The Last Guardian, on a freelance basis
Fumito Ueda, the creator of critically acclaimed games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, has apparently left Sony, finishing work on his latest game on a freelance basis.
According to Eurogamer sources, Ueda's exit has contributed to delays to The Last Guardian, Team Ico's current project.
The sources also suggest that Ueda plans to move on to personal projects once the game is finished.
Sony has refused to comment, but SCE president Shuhei Yoshida hinted at problems in the development team when speaking to VG247 in August.
"The Last Guardian team has been making progress," he said.
"It's been very difficult in terms of seeing the progress: not as fast as we'd been hoping for, and the team has been under big pressure. But we're still making progress, so I'd like to continue to support and keep waiting for great news sometime in the future."
The game, which was announced at E3 in 2009, was notably absent from this year's show, or TGS in September. Release is currently planned for 2012.
I really hope this isn't true - Ueda is one of my most revered game creators working today, and The Last Guardian is unquestionably one of my most anticipated games for next year. I wonder if he will stay in games development or move onto something else (like designing playgrounds), as I feel other publishers wouldn't allow him the financial and creative flexibility which Sony have.
Posted:A year ago