One of the games that many were disappointed to see repeatedly delayed was The Last Guardian, the latest title from the team behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Shuhei Yoshida of Sony Worldwide Studios understands the frustration, and in an interview with Games Industry spoke at length about the game, which was first announced several years ago.
Yoshida did not specify if The Last Guardian will appear on the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4, but explained that he is waiting for the game to be formally reintroduced to audiences first:
"We're waiting for the right time to re-introduce The Last Guardian in an appropriate way. I can't... Well, the game is in development, and it's well staffed, and Ueda-san is here, working - even though he's not a Sony employee, he's dedicated to the product. But we're not ready to update yet."
Interestingly enough, Yoshida explained that the game was never put on hiatus as was reported, and explained that Jack Tretton of Sony of America used the term wrongly and the game had never stopped production:
"Hiatus, I never... It was Jack Tretton! He used that term, and I said no, hiatus is misleading. It was a hiatus in terms of releasing new information. The game has never stopped - the team has always been here. They're going through the re-engineering of the game, so the team size is smaller, because it's more engineering focused right now."
This is undoubtedly good news for fans of the game who have waited years to play, as it sounds like the game is going to be revealed sooner rather than later. In fact, the game could be released sooner than most fans think if the game is partially complete and the development team is just refining the game to fit the new environment it will be released into.
One big factor that may cause further delay is if the team brings The Last Guardian to the PlayStation 4. The game was originally a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but due to the timing of the release date, it may be too late for the game to be a success as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. Given the potential time table for the game, taking the game to PlayStation 4 may be the best move, especially considering the rumors that the game suffered from technical problems on the PlayStation 3. After all, the PlayStation 4 is much more powerful and should deliver on the full potential of the game.