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Last week I brought you word that Team Ico's studio head and creative lead Fumito Ueda was leaving the studio and that he would be working as a freelancer on The Last Guardian to get the game completed once and for all. These departures are natural and occur quite often on the development scene and while Sony has declined to comment on the rumor a development studio has come forward to say that they have absorbed another member of Team Ico.
Announced this morning in a press release, Yoshifusa Hayama, the executive producer on The Last Guardian, has left the company to become the creative director for Bossa Studios, a social gaming developer based out of London. Hayama will be working on the studios first 3D game. This may be a good move for him but it comes with incredibly ill timing.
We've seen it before in the gaming industry: developers sticking around at their studio only long enough to finish their title before jumping ship as fast as possible. This usually comes after a rift forms within the team over one issue or another or, in the more likely scenario, developer/publisher clashes. This seems more realistic given that Team Ico had to move offices this Summer at the behest of Sony in order to be closer to the company's headquarters.
Given the departure of two major studio heads and the team's move to a location proximate to Sony's HQ, is it fair to suggest that we may be looking at a Sony takeover of the studio? The signs are there: team heads leaving, studio relocation and missed release dates. I get the distinct feeling that there will be more to leave Team Ico once The Last Guardian is finally completed.
Let's just hope this doesn't turn into another Infinity Ward/Activision debacle.
Comments
12 years, 4 months ago
lololol.
I'd just say that in Japan the appeal for mobile/social gaming is just too big now, GREE is pushing boundaries over there. Tecmo Koei just purchased Gust and has already announced social games for it's Atelier IP, Square Enix has also announced 2 social games, one being a card game. It's not surprising at all. Two VPs of Sony have also left, one of them has joined Zynga.
Talent is always available and I doubt that it also has to do with Sony being lenient. Studio's have budgets - maybe they have churned most of theirs... I could say, but I don't think that is a motive for directors and executive producers to leave... at all. The first people to leave would be programmers and asset designers.
This is just a thing that is timed, his plans of leaving Japan Studio have come form a long way for sure, you don't just quit and find a new job instantly. He's been at it planning this new studio with whoever else is involved for a long time, they need money to invest on it after all.
So, don't worry about the quality of the game, and also take into account that this is the last we will hear about Team ICO as it stands, what I believe will actually happen is that they will rename the studio and shift the team somewhat with the rest of Japan Studio. Is that a bad thing? No.
I'd rather remember Team ICO for just these 3 games and nothing else. That way people won't be worried about what game they will make afterwards as it will essentially won't be the same team again.
12 years, 4 months ago
Damn...
12 years, 4 months ago
This sounds remarkably similar to what happened between Grin and Square. I don't think the quality of The Last Guardian will suffer, they are far along in development and have a clear vision of what the game was to be (at least I hope so). I'm glad that those who decided to leave have found new homes so quickly, but I imagine this may be the end of Team Ico as we have come to know it.
12 years, 4 months ago
That sucks, Team Ico deserves better.
12 years, 4 months ago
Wait...Sony doesn't own Team Ico right now, right? So why would they have to relocate their office at Sony's request? That sounds fishy...
12 years, 4 months ago
Well that's depressing. Such a great studio as well. If Team Ico Falls apart it's going to hurt many gamers right in the knee.
12 years ago
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