The Last Guardian creator Fumito Ueda has admitted he never expected the upcoming action-adventure title to take this long to develop.
Speaking during an interview with Eurogamer, Ueda-san revealed that the development team initially wanted to make sure its next project would not take as long as its previous titles, namely the critically acclaimed ICO and Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 2.
Related – Watch The Last Guardian trailer
“Never in my wildest imagination did I think The Last Guardian would take this long,” said Ueda-san. “Actually, it was a post-mortem point of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus – they took a long time to make as well, so we thought let’s make the next one quicker than we made Ico and Shadow. That was our aim… Whatever I make next, I don’t aim for it to take as long as The Last Guardian. Exactly what I’m going to do next – I have several ideas. Some of them are in the same taste of the three games that I’ve made so far. Some of them are completely different. I’ve got several ideas. But creating a video game is such a difficult thing to do. I’m still waiting for that idea that’s going to be worth overcoming that huge challenge for.”
The Last Guardian release date is nearly upon us
The Last Guardian is notorious for its long and arduous development cycle. Initially announced for the PlayStation 3 in 2009, the project has been in the works for nearly a decade now, and was originally scheduled for release in holiday 2011. However, the game was delayed and ran into production issues that same year, chiefly involving the departure of Ueda-san from SCE Japan Studio, although he continued to work on the game in a freelance capacity.
The next couple of years yielded little in the way of any new updates on the title, with The Last Guardian notably absent from all major trade shows. Rumors circulated that the project had been cancelled, although Sony quickly denied this to be the case. Eventually, Sony moved the game to PS4 and re-revealed the title at its E3 2015 press conference.
The Last Guardian is now due for release in the U.S. on December 6 and in Europe on December 7, and the game will also support PlayStation 4 Pro and HDR capabilities.