The development of The Last Guardian, an adventure game developed by Team Ico, began in 2007 and was a process marked by numerous technical challenges and significant changes in its production. Originally planned for the PlayStation 3 console, the game faced performance difficulties that caused it to run at a notably low frame rate, between 10 and 15 FPS. Faced with these stubborn hardware issues and to fulfill the ambitious vision of its director, Fumito Ueda, the development team made the decision to move production to the PlayStation 4, which involved starting much of the programming from scratch.
The Last Guardian was completed thanks to Sony’s trust
Shuhei Yoshida, a PlayStation veteran, recently spoke about this arduous journey, highlighting the importance of Sony’s internal support in bringing the game to market. During the Taipei Game Show 2025, Yoshida emphasized that without PlayStation’s intervention, The Last Guardian probably wouldn’t have survived in a conventional publishing environment. His commitment was clear: despite the setbacks, he insisted that the game had to be released, conveying a message of perseverance to the development team and reaffirming his confidence in Ueda’s creative vision.
The path to completing the project became even more complicated after the departure of Ueda and other key members of Team Ico in 2011. However, Ueda established a new studio with the former lead programmer of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Jinji Horagai, which allowed Sony to complete the project. The story of The Last Guardian becomes, in retrospect, a testament to dedication and challenges overcome, making its release in 2016 considered almost a miracle in the video game industry.
