GenDesign, Fumito Ueda’s new development house, seems to be teasing something on its website home page– a mysterious new bit of artwork has gone live on the site in commemoration of the new year, showcasing, among other things, some doves, a girl on an altar, and what seems to be a giant creature of some sort- all of which seems to be right up Ueda’s alley.

Ueda-san’s previous game was The Last Guardian, which launched last year exclusively on the PS4 after a decade of protracted development; he is known for making exceptionally well received games, including ICO and Shadow of the Colossus prior to The Last Guardian.

As for what this art is teasing- it could be an all new game. It could be absolutely nothing. Personally, given his track record, I hope this means that Ueda-san has started work on a new game- I also hope that this game is out sooner rather than later (for all his genius, he isn’t known for sticking to deadlines).

Fumito Ueda’s games often take a long time to release,a and when they do, they can be hard to digest for a lot of people. They can be riddled with technical glitches and deficiencies, they can be graphically lacking, and their mechanics can be eccentric. But if they click for you, then they can also become the most memorable experiences you will have as a player.

This has happened with ICO, with Shadow of the Colossus, and with last year’s The Last Guardian. Now, Ueda is already looking ahead to his next project. Speaking at at the Nordic Game Conference, Ueda discussed some ideas he has in mind for his next project.

“I cannot talk about the details [of my next project] but… Shadow [of the Colossus] came out of the experience with ICO, [going] from a closed world to open world. When I completed Shadow, there was a moment where I wondered if I wanted to go around an open world again, and maybe I should go back to a more closed space, spending a more intimate time with something in that space. That became the starting point for The Last Guardian.

“Now I’ve completed The Last Guardian and spent so many years in that game, maybe I may go back to the Shadow-type environment.”

Shadow of the Colossus is arguably Ueda’s greatest achievement as a game designer, and one of the greatest games ever made- so him making another title in that vein will definitely be greatly appreciated. I can’t wait to see how it goes.

After a ten year long odyssey, The Last Guardian is finally out, and it is also almost worth the wait, if a bit besought with technical issues. And now, another Japanese developer famous for taking far too long on his games is congratulating Fumito Ueda, the director of The Last Guardian.

Posting on his Twitter, Hideo Kojima, the developer of Metal Gear Solid, and the upcoming Death Stranding, congratulated Ueda on the release of the game. Ueda has apparently sent Kojima a copy of The Last Guardian, and Kojima states that he is looking forward to playing it.

“To Ueda-san, Just received The Last Guardian! Congrats! I will play it now. Thanks for your message, let’s go out!” Kojima enthused on his Twitter.

The Last Guardian is available now on PS4 and PS4 Pro- that said, if you are looking to play the game, and you only have a standard PS4 system, you may want to give this one a bit of a wide berth for now.

Update 2: Rumor debunked.

Update: A user emailed us comparing the font of the deleted tweet [pictured below] and the ones that are actually on Arata’s Twitter feed. And although there is a difference, fonts do look a bit different across different browsers, monitor resolution and devices.  For comparison’s sake we took a screenshot of Arata’s Twitter feed and pasted it on his live feed. They sure look similar to us. We are not defending this article. We are only merely stating that fonts look slightly varied across different configurations. Again, this is a rumor and it needs to be taken with a grain of salt as usual.

Original Story:

It’s E3 season again and with it comes the perfunctory stream of rumours, ramblings and crazy talk. However, 2014 seems to have a slightly different tone. Whether it was the massive information leak in January that revealed – among other things – that Microsoft had a Kinect-less Xbox One to announce or From Software’s PS4-exclusive Project Beast, this year has thus far had a tendency of rumours coming true.

Although there have been multiple rumors in the past about Team ICO’s The Last Guardian being retooled for the PS4, but there’s a twist. Here’s where we get into true “grain of salt” territory. GamingBolt received a tip regarding Arata, a Twitter user who is a friend of Fumito Ueda. Ueda served as the designer and director for the game before eventually leaving Sony. He’s still a special consultant on the project though.

The tweet from Arata was in Japanese (pictured above) and translated as: “I can not wait for the Steller’s sea eagle Toriko show of flesh-eating at # E3. I hope you are all doing well.” That tweet has since been removed.

A Steller’s Sea Eagle is a large bird of prey and Toriko is the name of The Last Guardian’s beast. The Japanese name for Steller’s Sea Eagle is “0-washi”. What happens to be the Japanese name of The Last Guardian?

“Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko/Trico” or “Trico/Toriko, the man-eating eagle”.

Again, all of this just fits together all little too conveniently so take it all as a rumour for now (the tweet doesn’t even explicitly mention the PS4…or even the PS3 for that matter). One thing is for sure though – this wouldn’t be the first time The Last Guardian was rumoured to be reappearing at E3 after being announced in 2009. Nonetheless, Sony has confirmed that the game is still in development and nothing could serve as a bigger surprise at E3 than The Last Guardian being announced for PS4. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks Mogtaba Aarabi.

“Putting aside the short-term output, more than anything I feel terribly sorry that for various reasons I have kept my audience waiting for such a long time.”

Originally revealed in 2009, The Last Guardian was scheduled to release by 2011 for the PlayStation 3 but has since been delayed. Now, with the PS4 having released, there are rumours that it could shift over to the next-generation of consoles. Ueda has since left the project as director but continues on as a special consultant. “It was not easy,” on being asked about Sony’s reaction to his news, “but I can’t go into the details just yet. It will be good to be able to discuss it along with a post-mortem of The Last Guardian someday.”

Meanwhile, Ueda talked about how he remains motivated despite having worked on the same project for more than 6 years. “Maintaining motivation is all about producing something great. A hobby or alcohol might help to refresh you temporarily, but they won’t motivate creativity. Also, the original staff members on Ico and SOTC are just as fussy over details as I am. I always want to create quickly, and I always want to increase the rate of production.

“In the case of The Last Guardian, my creative work was mostly finished a long time ago, but the details of when, where and how it will be completed are beyond my control.”

It looks like Fumito Ueda is scrapping away at The Last Guardian, the seemingly impossible project that is most definitely in development hell right now. The Famitsu guys, went to the SCEJ office in Japan to check, and it looks like he is still there… cheerful as always.

The game has been in development for quite a few years now, but according to the rough translation of the Famitsu article, it seems like TLG will be Ueda’s best game yet!

In case, you don’t know how the SCEJ office in Japan looks like, take a look at it below in all its glory.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Sony has confirmed to Gamasutra that Fumito Ueda has left them. Eurogamer first broke out the rumour that the legendary creator was no longer at Sony. It’s now confirmed that it is indeed true.

They said that he was committed to completing the project, and was working on a contract basis.

The Last Guardian seems to be going through development hell, since it’s been a long time since we have seen anything from it.

Losing a talented person like Ueda is tough for any company, but considering what happened with The Last Guardian, it’s clear that Sony was fed up.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Rumours that the fabled creator of titles like Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and the upcoming The Last Guardian- Fumito Ueda- will be leaving Sony to become a freelance games developer have been circulating around lately. But Ueda wants to reassure fans that he is still working hard on the highly anticipated PS3 exclusive, the aforementioned Last Guardian.

“Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions…” he tweeted recently (Translated by Siliconera). “Don’t worry, as usual, I’m still working hard on The Last Guardian,” he concluded, still not responding to the rumours.

When Sony was asked about the fate of Ueda at Team Ico, the firm refused to comment on ‘rumours and speculation’.

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated.

Fumito Ueda has left Sony, according to a Eurogamer rumour. They say that this is the reason why The Last Guardian was delayed so much, and still has no release date in sight. He is working on the game in a freelance capacity they say.

President of SCE studios, Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that The Last Guardian project was in trouble and the team was finding it tough.

“It’s been very difficult in terms of seeing the progress: not as fast as we’d been hoping for, and the team has been under big pressure,” he said.

Hopefully, this rumour isn’t true, and he still stays at Sony. But considering Team ICO’s output, it isn’t a big loss to Sony.