The Last Guardian is our number one most anticipated game, but after Fumito Ueda left Sony we’ve – like others – been wondering whether it’s ever going to see the light of day, despite claims from Shuhei Yoshida that the game still exists.
So, to kick off this week as we start to build towards a hopeful E3 return for Team Ico’s third game, what’s the TSA verdict? Â Will the game ever release, or has it disappeared down a well, for good?
Tell us in the comments.
Kevatron400
I really hope that the rocky production life won’t have ruined the game – the studio has knocked it out of the park twice before (I’ve heard – never played Ico but loved SotC), so my expectations are quite high.
gazzagb
I reckon it’s been shelved. Didn’t last December the producer quit out of the blue? Just like with Agent, Sony are way too quiet about the game. Sony never mention it at any of the major conferences where they could get massive publicity for it.
I reckon they’ve put it on hold due to “financial reasons” – probably taking too long to develop, and they don’t think it will sell very well – it is quiet a niche audience it targets.
There’s a chance that it might appear next gen as people have said, but can Sony really take a chance financing development for all these years? With a game like GT5 – it has an established fanbase and is probably alongside Forza at the top of the most recognised driving franchises. TLG isn’t very well known outside of gamers that have followed it, and while I believe it would have been a great game and experience, it wouldn’t of sold well simply because of the nature of the game. Maybe it would of done better as a PSN title, just look at Journey.
jikomanzoku
Funnily enough I was talking about this with a mates GF last week and though neither of us could decide whether it would ever come out, we both agreed that unless it’s of a similar quality to ICO/SOTC, we’d rather not see it at all.
Nickboss1
When its here, its here.
jikomanzoku
When it’s here I’ll eat my hat, though I will make one specially, out of sausages and bacon.
TSBonyman
I still believe! :)
Hopefully we’ll get some news at E3.
shields_t
Given how long they let the Gran Turismo 5 saga simmer on, I wouldn’t be surprised to still see it before the PS3 hangs up its boots to be honest. Pity they have already released the other two as HD classics (well, not for us!), as a bit of cross marketing can sell games both ways as I’m sure it did with God of War 3.
Forrest_01
Nope, I reckon it’s been quietly shelved.
I suspect they used the Team Ico collection to see how much interest there is in these sorts of games & just didn’t get the response they were looking for in terms of sales or chatter about those games. You also have to remember that they would technically be taking a chance on a new IP, which studios aren’t generally so keen to do these days.
I doubt it’ll ever be anything more than a series of promotional videos.
Sympozium
HD releases are never seen I doubt Sony could use the previous games from Team ICO as a test, I mean they can’t really expect fans to keep it alive for a while. They need new customers I suppose. Surely Jak & Daxter would get loads of interest but hardly there’s nowhere that sells it the city. The Last Guardian could simply depend on how well it is marketed or the reviews, I doubt Sony would release the previous Team ICO games to test the waters.
Forrest_01
I didn’t mean that was their only reason for releasing them, that probably was due to people requesting them, but sales can easily be monitored once they are out. If the collection didn’t fare too well sales wise & no-one was really talking about it either, I think I would be quite reluctant to get TLG out.
You have to remember, this is the generation of the me-too shooter. Perhaps they need to give Trico an AK to make it successful? :)
The Lone Steven
I think the main mechanics of the game are the reason for it being delayed as i think they are trying to make the giant thingy as real as possible and the PS3 can’t handle it every time they try to run it.
Or the engine is causing major problems and they are having to recode it in order to fix it.
I will be very sad if it’s been cancelled as we need more unique games as generic bald space marines are not the future of gaming.
LTG Davey
Whilst on the subject of Team Ico I finally picked up a copy of SotC a few days ago. After hearing such great things I was waiting to be absolutely blown away. I actually didn’t care for it, at all :( Great music design sure but the gameplay just didn’t wow me in the slightest.
ico
Yes. This gen. Or else…