Sony Comments On The Last Guardian Delays And Vita Sales

With Hayama and Ueda out of the running now, it looks like The Last Guardian’s tricky development cycle is still on shaky ground, with some “scrapping and rebuilding” going on.

Sony have spoken on the game after some silence, with boss Shuhei Yoshida spilling the beans on what sounds like a massively protracted experience.

[drop2]”The project has been making progress, but slow progress,” said Yoshida, “but we haven’t changed any focus.”

“It’s still a really important project and a vision we want to see realised, 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].”

“He was an employee, and now he’s working on a contract basis,” said Yoshida of Ueda. “You know, we discussed an arrangement so he could focus on the creative side. He comes in every day, and he’s probably one of the people who works the longest hours.”

“There have been technical issues and the engineering team is reworking it,” he said, concluding. “It’s playable, but not to the level of when we can say it’s coming. ”

Yoshida also talked about Vita, and the Japanese sales.

“It didn’t hit our highest expectations,” he said. “From that standpoint it’s disappointing.  But when you look at the market in Japan today, it’s a very strong portable market as you know, and the PSP is still very strong and lots of new games come out for it.”

“So PSP is still very relevant. And of course 3DS had the perfect storm of top quality games for Christmas with the reduced price.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said of the upcoming Western launches. “We’ll have to see how the launch goes. In terms of what we have as a foundation as a platform, we’re envisioning this as a seven or eight year platform and are very happy with what we have today and can improve upon it.”

21 Comments

  1. I think one of the most intriguing things said that people have glossed over is this: “But in terms of the state of the studio in Japan, we have a new head of studio, Allan Becker. He’s been with PlayStation from the beginning. He founded Sony Santa Monica studio. I asked him to move to Japan to instill his philosophy of making games. He’s also bringing these two different cultures together. He started in April last year as the head of the Japan studio and has already made a big impact.”

    When you look at what he has done over the years http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1057613/ , it gives me new hope of Sony Japan Studio and even the state of the Last Guardian, maybe this person replaced the last producer, and if that is the case I’m not as worried as I used to be, because when Santa Monica was founded it hit the ground running.

  2. I fear we shall hear ofnthis being cancelled soon. I sadly dout Ueda will ever produce such epic video game art of the calibre of Ico and SOTC again. Safe to now work on the assumption that the last guardian is a no show and it’s a bonus if we do ever see it. As spiderman said with great gaming art comes great protracted development times and studio strife….

  3. Glass is always half full…

    • Ah but when the glass is half full of the sweetest, original and refreshing nectar you’ve had for a long time it’s still pretty pretty pretty good! I lice in hope it’s not cancelled but also hear the reality train approacheth like a bullet to the heart of creativity. Or something like that.

      • Live in hope sorry. Lice in hope seems icky.

  4. This has got me really worried, I just hope Ueda gets the freedom he needs to complete this vision of this, if he does, I really can’t picture it being anything other than another brilliant game.

    My most anticipated game for two years now, I’d happily wait another two if it means they get to finish this properly.

  5. It’s a shame. Thought ICO was shit (seriously it’s just unbelievably hyped, i see no enjoyment or originality in the game whatsoever), was really looking forward to this one, with the focus on the environment (all ICO had so far (i’m not too far in) was empty walls).

    • Yeah it’s best to complete a game before you make judgement, early section of ICO is a little doom and gloom in the dungeons but really comes alive when you are outside.

      • Do you mean outside of the ruins? Sadly it was such an joyless experience that I gave up before I reached that part. Are we supposed to force ourselves through a game that we don’t enjoy to judge a game? If I don’t like a game halfway through I don’t care how the rest pans out because the damage has already been done. For me it was the stale gameplay that ruined it and I don’t think paying the game any further would change that.

      • There’s outside? I wouldn’t believe if i heard.

    • Ah, but for every person who didn’t like it there are handfuls that did. Simply avoid this new title like the plague and go play something else. Same goes for everyone who didn’t enjoy Ico or SOTC.

      If I don’t enjoy a game then it’s probably a smart move to avoid the continuing franchise. If the game deviates a bit then pay some attention depending on if it starts to take your fancy.

      Outside of that, don’t part with your money and pop down the docks instead and rent yourself a beautiful lady(boy). :-)

      • Man, that’s the most lovely advice i’ve had.

  6. I’m sure it would have been great but I think its time to accept it probably won’t ever make it to store shelves. Even if it does, with such an all over the place development cycle, its hardly going to be of a decent quality. Shame, but thats how it goes sometimes I guess.

  7. Not good news to hear, I expect we’ll here it being cancelled soon if it takes much longer.
    And being “cautiously optimistic” to me means, he’s not expecting it to be as bad as Japan’s sales, but he’s not expecting it to do great either. Either way, I hope Sony stick to the 7 or 8 year plan and fully support it.

  8. 7 or 8 year plan for the Vita? Interesting. That means they’ve already plotted out the major releases for 25% of the Vita’s life! (based on them having a games plan including 2013).

  9. It sounds like Ueda-San is uncompromising with his vision for the game and that gives me some hope yet. Yes, it’s well overdue but I’m happy to wait until they get it right instead of them rushing it out just to meet a deadline. I’m not giving up on Toriko yet!

  10. Here’s an interview I read yesterday which seem to be very similar, but by Gameinformer:

    http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/10/shuhei-yoshida-interview.aspx

    It’s also about The Last Guardian and the Vita, but with some intel on Demons Souls aswell.

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