Sony Tight-Lipped On Ico Creator's Rumored Resignation

If Ico creator Fumito Ueda is still a Sony employee, the company's not saying. Rumors began circulating Wednesday morning after a story at UK-based Eurogamer claimed that the Team Ico studio head has resigned, and was continuing to work on the oft-delayed The Last Guardian on a contract basis. According to that report, Ueda's departure is one of the factors in that game's continual delay. Sony has not responded either way to Gamasutra's requests for clarification at press time, nor has Ueda himself. Ueda's Sony-owned studio Team Ico has not shipped a game in over six years. The Last Guardian is slated to be the third title, following 2001's Ico and 2005's Shadow of the Colossus, both for the PlayStation 2. At this year's Tokyo Game Show, Sony Worldwide Studios' Shuhei Yoshida told reporters that progress on The Last Guardian was "not as fast as we'd been hoping for." The game was not present in any way at the show. Indeed, the last time Gamasutra laid eyes on The Last Guardian was at a presentation at TGS 2010, well over a year ago. This story will be updated if any new information is learned.