Fumito Ueda, the creator of PS2 classics Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and the director of the upcoming PS3 exclusive The Last Guardian, is no longer employed at Sony. Gamasutra managed to finally get official confirmation from Sony regarding the matter, which first hit the news as a rumor last week.
Sony went on to reiterate that Ueda is still contractually obligated to finish The Last Guardian, and is “committed to completing” the oft-delayed game, which hasn’t been shown publicly in over a year. Ueda’s “Team Ico” have never been the type to rush a game out before it’s truly complete, but The Last Guardian’s continued absence has led to rumors of a troubled development cycle filled with lots of internal drama at Sony. The game’s producer, Yoshifusa Hayama, also quit Sony last week, in order to take a job at a social games company. Despite all the high profile departures within the development team, Sony still insists that the game will be out sometime during 2012.
