The Last Guardian director Fumito Ueda did not think audiences would remember his third game after remaining in ‘development hell’ for so long.
Viewers of the Playstation E3 conference earlier this week were treated to a variety of highlights, from the news of Shenmue III being Kickstarted to the exclusive team-up with Activision on the newest Call of Duty. However, for many the most exciting news was undoubtedly the re-reveal of The Last Guardian, initially teased for the PS3 way back in 2009.
In an interview with the Playstation Blog, Ueda said “From my point of view, it was very unpredictable how the audience would react. I wasn’t sure if people would remember the title.” However, it wasn’t to be – coming from the pedigree of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Sony fans certainly weren’t giving up hope until they were definitively told that The Last Guardian was canned. Ueda went on to say how he felt following the reveal; “admittedly I was a bit nervous, but after the announce I saw the reaction, and the cheering… Afterwards, I was more relaxed and happy!”
Further questions sought to investigate the long, 6 year delay in information regarding the development. Ueda says there were obviously multiple reasons, but cites the transition to PS4 from PS3 as one of their biggest challenges. However, Fumito said they were more than capable of overcoming the hurdles, in order to “have finally – proudly – announced the game for PS4 during the E3 press conference.”
This migration to new tech naturally comes with both troubles and benefits. Fumito added that “the migration to PS4 has enabled us to push the envelope on the technology side,” which should mean we can expect some stellar environments in that seemingly signature style from the previous two Team Ico games.
Ultimately, we just have to hope that The Last Guardian doesn’t slip into development troubles once more, and that we can hopefully explore the assuredly emotional adventure with mysterious beast Trico and the unnamed young boy sooner rather than later.