Sony had already said before E3 that The Last Guardian is still in development, but the PlayStation 3 exclusive has been slowed down by technical difficulties. The company echoed just that once again during E3 and now they’ve explained why there’s been such a long wait for an update on Team Ico’s next title.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Sony Worldwide president Shuhei Yoshida said the game isn’t present at E3 in any capacity due to the development team still having “technical difficulties” with the game:
The team is back in Tokyo is working hard, and there are some technical difficulties that the team is focused on right now. That’s why we don’t have an update.
Due to its notable absence since its E3 reveal a few years ago, one reason for that could have been Sony waiting for the PlayStation 4 to release and port the game over. Yoshida rubbished the theory, though:
What does that question mean [is it still a PS3 game]? It is a PS3 game.
When we have confidence in saying that, we will talk about it. But today, we are working through some engineering effort.
The Last Guardian’s debut revel during E3 2009 was overshadowed by the game’s first-ever leak before E3; PlayStation LifeStyle revealed the world exclusive trailer for the PlayStation 3 exclusive. Since then, however, it’s only made two appearances, both of which have been at the Tokyo Game Show.
The game’s difficulties were initially showcased by the game’s designer, Fumito Ueda, leaving Sony last year (although he will continue in a freelance capacity). Sony UK and Sony US are even lending a hand to Sony Japan to build the game.
