Update: We’re getting some more confirmation that The Last Guardian will be at E3. Eurogamer claims they have a source who has been confirming for months now the title will show up. And other rumors claim that Mark Cerny, who helped design the PS4 and develop Knack, has moved his team onto Last Guardian to help finally finish the project. Some of this makes sense since the Knack development team has worked with Team Ico before and since Last Guardian has been in development for so long they’ll need someone who’s made a PS4 title before.
All this is still rumor and guesswork from inside sources not to mention this is still E3 we’re talking about where anything can change in the last minute.
Original: When people talk about games that have been stuck in developement for so long that they might never come out, The Last Guardian is likely to come up as an example soon after Half-Life 3. Announced way back in 2007, almost nothing new has been revealed about the game since 2009. The trademark on the title has expired twice, once in 2013 and again in 2015, leading people to believe the game canceled. However, Sony requified the problem both times, and continued to say that the game was still in developement. Now, according to The Guardian, we might finally see the long-hidden game at E3 this year.
Earlier today, The Guardian published an article on their website talking about their “15 most anticipated games” of E3 2015. Partway down the list, The Last Guardian makes a surprise appearance as one of these 15 games. The article acknowledged that the game has been in “development hell” for a long time, but claims that they have it on “very good authority” that the game will be present at this year’s E3.
While the prospect of this highly anticipated game from Team Ico finally seeing the light of day is exciting, there’s definitely cause for concern about this game as well. When a game remains in developement for a long period of time without being seen, the final product can end up varying wildly from what was initially shown. The team working on the game can also greatly vary as people move on to other projects. Games that do manage to claw their way out of developement hell also don’t have a track record for being commercial or financial successes.
Hopefully The Last Guardian can buck the trend at E3 2015 and show the fruits of Team Ico’s labor.
