Last week, we reported on a rumor that alleged Team Ico lead Fumito Ueda had left Sony and was finishing out his work on the studio's upcoming game, The Last Guardian, in a freelance capacity. Today, in the midst of celebrating Ico's tenth anniversary in Japan, Ueda responded to the report with a brief statement on Twitter.
Roughly translated, Ueda's tweet reads:
I've gotten a lot questions from you… The Last Guardian is still in intensive development, so don't worry.
While it's comforting to hear that The Last Guardian is still on track, this response doesn't really do much to dispell the speculation. Ueda hasn't denied breaking ties with Sony, and could easily be working as a freelancer, just as the rumors had stated. The lack of any concrete statement seems like implicit confirmation that something is amiss.
The Last Guardian has already had its share of troubles, with a long development cycle and years of delays since it's initial announcement back at E3 2009. Hopefully, whatever troubles are behind these recent reports won't impact the final product, which is still tentatively scheduled for release on the PS3 sometime in 2012.