The Last Guardian’s Director Talks Tough Decisions, Inspirations, and Moving Forward

The Last Guardian, after nearly ten years of development, has finally gone gold and is preparing to release early next month. With only a few weeks between us and Fumito Ueda’s latest creation, Geoff Keighley sat down with The Last Guardian’s director to learn more about the game’s development and Ueda’s feelings now.

A portion of the talk centered on The Last Guardian’s struggles, Ueda sharing that there were certainly times when he felt the game would never release. But the game had the fortunate support of many fans, he said, and it became a “healthy cycle” for the team to take all of that pressure and put it into the game. Keighley then asked if there was any day or decision Ueda remembers as particularly difficult along the way.

“Clearly I remember the day that I had to make the decision and accept the fact that we were going to move to a new system. So going from the PlayStation 3 onto the PlayStation 4,” he responded. The choice meant there would be much more work to do, and that they no longer knew when they would be able to provide a game.

To stay motivated, Ueda looked to other forms of entertainment – art, movies, and games – for inspiration. He named works like the ET film, Totoro, and Iron Giant, as well as indie game Inside.

Ueda was brief on questions about The Last Guardian and its story. He refused to confirm or deny that this world and the one of Ico are connected, saying that he has his own answer, but doesn’t want to give it away. Even though details were minimum, Ueda did say that at the end of the game, he hopes everyone feels like they know Trico, like they feel the existence of Trico, as he does.

“There’s a huge relief sort of feeling in me,” he said on wrapping development on The Last Guardian, “but only half. The other half is — I feel like because of the time spent being with Trico, that I am now having to let go of Trico. And it’s a bittersweet moment for me.”

You can check out Geoff Keighley full interview with Ueda on YouTube Gaming, and The Last Guardian when it releases on PlayStation 4 Dec. 6.

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