Fumito Ueda has a small video game output, but a strong one. As the creative mind behind both PlayStation classics Ico and Shadow of the Colossus his next effort, The Last Guardian, was highly anticipated. However, the project has encountered delay after delay that 4 years after the game’s announcement and 6 years after development began it still has not seen the light of day.
In an interview with Edge Magazine, Ueda expressed his apologies on the delay. “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.”
With regards to leaving Sony and his now freelance status, Ueda was terse, but said there wasn’t much difference. “When I worked at SCE, I was on an annual contract, so it was not as much of a change as those around me might think. Recently, I’ve been working at my home office and often at SCE’s Shinagawa office in Tokyo.”
When asked what he’d like to work on next, he replied,
“This may be surprising, but one day I’d like to make a game on the theme of zombies. I’d like to try making a low-threshold game for hardware that is based around a touchpad. That’s if I can come up with a well-suited idea, of course. There are many other things, too, but they’re secret.
With a zombie motif, in terms of AI and motion technology and the operability of the player character, there are many elements that interest me and that are suited to in0game expression. Especially if there is a way to use [zombies] not just as a convenient enemy for the player to shoot at, but in a way that allows me to express a character in a lyrical way. There are always possibilities.”