Disappointing news broke this morning about one of Sony’s big exclusives hitting the rocks, as Trademarkia listings show “On Monday, August 6, 2012, status on the The Last Guardian trademark changed to Abandoned – No Statement of Use Filed.”
The Last Guardian has been on the horizon for PS3 owners since the original announcement way back in 2009, but has been continually delayed ever since. Originally earmarked for a late 2011 release, it had been pushed back to 2012 last year.
With both Executive producer Yoshifusa Hayama and creator Fumito Ueda leaving Sony in quick succession, the writing would appear to be on the wall. However, IGN reported today that “Ueda said he was committed to completing the game in a freelance capacity and while rumors briefly indicated that the game had been cancelled, Sony later reported it was still making progress.
After missing TGS 2011 and being absent from E3 2012, we last heard from Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida that The Last Guardian is still in development.”
Not being a PS3 owner myself I can’t pretend I’m overly concerned by this news. Nevertheless, I have to say The Last Guardian has impressed me, with what I’ve seen to this point looking as though it could develop into one of those rarest of games that actually make us XBOX 360 owners a touch jealous. Fingers crossed this isn’t the end of a promising IP.
Sources: Trademarkia and IGN
