Eurogamer Rumor: Fumito Ueda has left Sony

[solidsnakejej]

I think this warrants it's own thread

Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian creator Fumito Ueda has left Sony, Eurogamer understands.

Japanese video game development sources indicated the 41-year-old is working on finishing oft-delayed PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last Guardian in a freelance capacity.

Ueda's departure from Sony internal development studio Team Ico is one of the reasons for the game's protracted development, Eurogamer was told.

Following the completion of the game, Ueda will embark on personal projects.

In September Sony reassured gamers that Team Ico was still "hard at work" on The Last Guardian, despite the high-profile PS3 exclusive missing the Tokyo Game Show.

The previous month SCE Studios president Shuhei Yoshida gave an exasperated-sounding Last Guardian progress update:

"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," he said.

Sony told Eurogamer it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...es-sony-rumour


SCEJ doesn't have much left now.

[Luis]

Meh. Legendary developer, sure... but it's not like his team has had a huge throughput this gen. I still remember when they were called the "Olympic team", as they took 4 years per game.

It sucks to see he hasn't been able to put everything together after Shadow of the Colossus. Their last game came out in 2005 and we don't even have a tentative date for his next title.

[AC!D]

Well that sucks if true. All the best for him in future endeavours. I hope he stays in the games industry. At least we will have one last great game from him to play.

As for the amount of time it takes to release games from SCEJ studios i think something really needs to be done. Polyphony also need a serious kick in the ass.

[Luis]

At least Polyphony got GT5P and GT5 out. 2 big games in 5 years with great sales, which is totally acceptable even if it seemed forever. Sony did make money.

I don't expect The Last Guardian to sell anywhere as much as any GT game. I doubt it'll cover the costs of ongoing development since 2005-2006.

[Gribble-Grunger]

for gods sake. i just put this up in the last guardian thread. seemed the obvious place to look

[Raijin]

At this point i'm ever wondering if the game is going to be released...

[drakkar]

I am saddened by this news. He was a visionary that maybe everyone didn't get, but he presented a style of gaming that I haven't seen too often (ThatGameCompany's Journey is looking mighty close though). It is this diversity that will be missed. Sales and financials be damned, these were works of care and love and have more intrinsic value then just cold hard paper. It is a shame that the Sony ecosystem is so troubled, and hopefully Ueda just needs a break and will come back one day to create again.

[TEEDA]

True, this is pretty sad for Sony. Also hope him the best for his future projects. But seeing such a talented dev quitting Sony Worldwide studios is quite painful for Sony. At least if he is still in freelance he could somewhat continue to do projects with Sony. But if his departure is due tomiscommunication or tension with Sony themselves it's not really good newsto see him continue working with/for them. And he also did say that he loved Nintendo and always kinda wanted to do projects for Nintendo. So maybe theyTLG. As long as he did what he wanted. And not having the game on schedule was not that a big deal for me but putting pressure on him meh....

Well Good luck Mister Ueda.

[KRA]

com'on is in it just a rumor from eurogamer ?
and we really don't know anything.
anyway i heard that he is leaving sony to make some some great kinect games for MS
could be interesting...

[solidsnakejej]

It would have been confirmed false by now plus

Sony told Eurogamer it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

^^ is usually a pre-confirmation of a rumor.

[drakkar]

com'on is in it just a rumor from eurogamer ?

I really do hope it is.

[Luis]

Well, to their credit, they were the very first to "confirm" that ICO and SotC were actually being remade, citing "well-placed industry sources", I believe.

Not that I give a damn about Eurogamer, who are a bunch of dicks.

[OmniStalgic]

We don't really know if this is on bad terms or not though. Insomniac "left" Sony, but it wasn't a jab or anything at them, they were just trying to expand. For all we know, he could just be getting to the age where he wants to wright his own book or go back to doing art, can't knock him for pursuing his career.

The Last Guardian is a project he started though, and will likely finish even with all the delays. Definitely a visionary for the industry, and a loss for Sony if he doesn't continue to give support with development/ideas/etc...but not as important for them moving forward. Sony is always about finding talent and giving people a shot to be the next visionary developer in the industry.

[Chris Metal]

He's just going freelance isn't he?? What's wrong with the guy expanding his horizons and career profile?

[drakkar]

He's just going freelance isn't he?? What's wrong with the guy expanding his horizons and career profile?

Nothing really, just scary times for what is happening with the Last Guardian. It really sounds like he will leave to pursue other things besides the game industry, probably burnt out. Still no Ueda games doesn't sound good, loved his unique approach.

[OmniStalgic]

^agreed..his influences will be missed

[Chris Metal]

Well its sad I agree leaving that company, but he's finishing Last Guardian first if the rumour is true right? And I'm sure colleagues he's been with for sooo long from Ico can carry the torch forwards.

[Gribble-Grunger]

if TLG is his last game with Team Ico, he will make sure it's his best.