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Sony worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida has refused to commit to a 2013 release date for troubled game The Last Guardian.
Speaking to Jeuxvideo, Yoshida said he did not want to commit to a specific schedule through fear of disappointing consumers waiting for the title.
He added Team Ico was still hard at work on the project however, despite a lengthy development, and was busy working on the engine and the technical aspects of the title.
“No, sorry, I can’t say that… Because the last time we talked of a date for The Last Guardian, we had ultimately disappointed many people,” said Yoshida, as translated by Google.
“But I can tell you that the team is working hard on the project and in particular the engine. It is precisely because the teams are working on the technical aspect of the game that we have nothing concrete to show you today. I look so now the right time to be able to introduce you to The Last Guardian and speak in complete serenity of a release date.”
Despite being first revealed in March 2009, The Last Guardian has not been seen in playable form since, amidst rumours of development problems with the title.
Team Ico has also seen the departures of the project’s lead developer Fumito Ueda, Shadow of the Colossus producer Kenji Kaido and The Last Guardian’s executive producer Yoshifusa Hayama, who left to join Bossa Studios.
Despite Ueda’s departure from the studio in a full-time capacity, he has continued working at the company on a contract basis whilst development on the title continues.
Despite the next-generation of consoles seemingly around the corner, of which Sony has said nothing concrete on as of yet, The Last Guardian is still said to be in development for the PS3.
