By now, the indefinite hiatus surrounding Team Ico’s The Last Guardian has become a bit of a recurring joke in the industry. Having initially unveiled the action-adventure title all the way back in 2009, where it was pegged as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, now, esteemed game creator Fumito Ueda has hinted that the long-gestating game is being reworked with PlayStation 4 in mind.
Speaking to Dengeki PlayStation (via Kotaku), Ueda touched upon the trials and tribulations that the development team have overcome, and how The Last Guardian is now making headway “under new conditions.”
“The Last Guardian, by which I mean all the hardships and the unforeseen amount of time required than what was originally thought. Talks with Sony Computer Entertainment on The Last Guardian have been ironed out, and we’re making progress under completely new conditions. I’m also working on some other things that I’ll hopefully be able to show in time if progress is smooth.”
Could those “new conditions” that Ueda alludes to mean that the title will rear its head on PS4? It certainly makes sense for Sony, given that the PlayStation 3 and its architecture are beginning to show their age coupled with the fact that the console’s install base is beginning to migrate to its current-gen successor.
Over the past year or so, Sony has gradually released updates on the status of The Last Guardian, but all signs indicate that the title is still very much in development and, according to head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida, the publisher is merely waiting for the best moment to reintroduce the game to a modern audience.
But what do you think? Is The Last Guardian being overhauled for the PlayStation 4? After all, it would certainly explain at least a portion of the extensive delay.