Rumor: ICO Creator Has Left Sony

[The Wooster]

Rumor: ICO Creator Has Left Sony

According to the latest rumblings of the rumor mill, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda has left Sony to pursue freelance work.

Don't panic, he's still going to finish The Last Guardian. According to Eurogamer, the 41-year-old developer is still working with Team ICO in a freelance capacity, but it's unclear, at this point, how much creative control of the project he's retained. Sony, as usual, is refusing to comment on the rumor.

Including the long-awaited The Last Guardian, Ueda has only worked on four games - acting as director/lead designer on all but one - during his fifteen year development career, all of which have had notoriously long and difficult development cycles. The Last Guardian was originally slated for a late 2011 release, but has since been delayed till sometime in 2012.

In the past, Ueda has mentioned that he's interested in developing a first person shooter once work on The Last Guardian has finished, citing Half Life 2 as a source of inspiration.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-30-the-last-guardian-creator-fumito-ueda-leaves-sony-rumour]


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[mysecondlife]

Well, I Wander if it's true..

 

[Casual Shinji]

Woah, woah, woah... woah! What?

Unclear how much creative control of the project he's retained? Okay, this is scaring the shit out of me. Is Ueda leaving because Sony is bogarding his project, because that's kinda the vibe I'm getting from this.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Sounds like he's fallen out of love with the project and his feet are just following where his mind has been for a while now. The man is a genius, so it will be interesting to see what the true follow up to SotC is now that I'm not sure TLG can truly hold that moniker.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Okay, this worries me.

I hope to [enter deity here] that TLG isn't compromised...

 

[l3o2828]

It's a rumour people.
90% of the time they are assumptions based on absolutely nothing.

 

[Shameless]

If it's true, then I've lost my hope in the industry for reals this time.

I hope it's not true.

 

[the spud]

It's a rumour people.
90% of the time they are assumptions based on absolutely nothing.

Weeelll, that is true for most of life, but for things like the game industry, it isn't all that uncommon for people to let certain details "slip" to raise awarness. Still agree that this probably isn't going to happen.

OT: An FPS? Really? Well, if he is inspired by HL2, then I can't really complain...

 

[jecht35]

Its not like hes going out of the gameing business acording to this but it still stinks.

 

[Fusioncode9]

Woah, woah, woah... woah! What?

Unclear how much creative control of the project he's retained? Okay, this is scaring the shit out of me. Is Ueda leaving because Sony is bogarding his project, because that's kinda the vibe I'm getting from this.

Sony has been letting him work on the same project for 4 years without rushing him and all the while knowing that it most like likely won't be a huge success. SoTC and ICO weren't big sellers.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

inb4: Aaarrrgggghhh, he wants to make a shooter, everybody is doing shooters!

Edit: Dang, didn't see that I was ninja'd.

Sony has been letting him work on the same project for 4 years without rushing him and all the while knowing that it most like likely won't be a huge success. SoTC and ICO weren't big sellers.

Companies might not see it that way, but just because those games weren't big sellers, doesn't mean they weren't a success. I've never played them but I know that they have at least cult classic status or even past that.

 

[GeorgW]

That might explain all the delays. And wasn't the original planned shipping date way, way earlier than this year?
He's a good dev, and I very much look forward to him doing something different, like an FPS. Could be a lot of fun.

 

[Raggedstar]

Ya, pretty damn worried over here. Depending on how much control he lost, the game might fall apart. That would be a disaster with a game like The Last Guardian. If this is true, I hope some details were lost and I'm getting concerned over nothing.

Though on the other hand, with his resume and following Half Life 2 as an example, it might be one godly shooter. Might as well be a GOOD, creative, and unique shooter if he's going to follow such a stagnant genre.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Though on the other hand, with his resume and following Half Life 2 as an example, it might be one godly shooter. Might as well be a GOOD, creative, and unique shooter if he's going to follow such a stagnant genre.

A stagnant genre that draws lot's of money.
He probably wants to make a mainstream game he can retire on since he might not live long enough to see the completion of the project that follows.
Or maybe he just wants to buy a new car at some point.

 

[Irridium]

Rumor: ICO Creator Has Left Sony

According to the latest rumblings of the rumor mill, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda has left Sony to pursue freelance work.


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Should probably update the story. It's confirmed.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/39100/Confirmed_Ico_Creator_Fumito_Ueda_Leaves_Sony.php