Throughout the gaming industry’s history, there haven’t been many developers able to express the magic and grandeur of life through video games quite like Team ICO. With unique and enchanting titles like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus under their belt, the company has become known for crafting releases that take gamers on inimitable adventures that evoke an ineffable wonder inside of each and every heart that experiences them. And now, at long last, Team ICO hopes to continue such magnificence with their prolonged and highly anticipated title, The Last Guardian.

While Team ICO is certainly important to The Last Guardian’s development process, most of the marvelous imagination behind the game comes from the creative wizardry of the title’s director, Fumito Ueda. Recently, the visionary game designer and director sat down with PlayStation Blog for an interview to share his thoughts on fans’ reactions to the announcement of The Last Guardian, and to discuss how he thinks the game’s coming together.

When asked about his feelings regarding The Last Guardian’s public revival, Ueda has said:

Seeing as The Last Guardian’s fate has been in limbo even though it was announced years ago, Ueda’s trepidation about the potential indifference of fans’ reactions to the game’s reintroduction was definitely warranted. Not to mention, with The Last Guardian being promised to have a tentative release year of 2016, a lot of gamers have every right to remain skeptical until a more exact date is set for the title, especially after its long stint in development hell.

“From my point of view, it was very unpredictable how the audience would react. I wasn’t sure if people would remember the title. Admittedly I was a bit nervous, but after the announce [sic] I saw the reaction, and the cheering – and that proved to me that people had really been waiting and were excited to see us reveal The Last Guardian for PS4.”

However, Ueda-san remains hopeful for the future, and wishes to remind fans that it’s their passion for his work that keeps games like The Last Guardian alive. In an effort to reciprocate the enthusiasm at E3, the innovative director has said, “I saw the crowd’s reaction and the reception was great. That reception has fed our motivation to work even harder to complete production. . . . We’ll certainly be fueled by all the attention and love we’ve got this week.”

With six years’ worth of hype surrounding The Last Guardian, the game developers clearly have their work cut out for them. In fact, Fumito Ueda and his collaborators at Team ICO are not only up against almost insurmountable odds, but they are also expected to exceed those lofty expectations. In spite of that, if the most recent The Last Guardian gameplay video is any indication of what’s to come, then fans ought be prepared to strap in for yet another extraordinary experience.

The Last Guardian is currently in development and is set for release exclusively on the PlayStation 4 sometime in 2016.

Source: PlayStation Blog