Shu Yoshida, former Head of Worldwide Studios at Sony Interactive Entertainment, has shared some insight on the development struggles faces by The Last Guardian.
During an interview with IGN Japan (via)at Taipei Game Show 2025, Yoshida reflected on his decades-long career at Sony Interactive Entertainment and offered insights into the survival of one of PlayStation’s most challenging projects, The Last Guardian. He highlighted the unique challenges faced during the game’s development.
Initially announced in 2009 as a PS3 title, The Last Guardian became infamous for its prolonged development cycle, technical hurdles, and repeated delays. According to Yoshida, under another publisher, the game would’ve been canceled. He said that the development team encountered countless difficulties, but he believed in the vision of its director, Fumito Ueda. and the emotional impact it could have on players.
The former Head of Worldwide Studios at Sony Interactive Entertainment mentioned that Ueda’s games have a certain vision, and he wanted Trico to be realized in accordance with said vision. However, the PS3’s performance was inadequate to handle the large character moving about in the background. The game ran at around 10 to 15 fps on the console. No matter what the development team did, it was unable to get it to run at a more playable frame rate. As a result, development was then moved it to PS4, and all the programming had to be re-done.
Despite its challenges, The Last Guardian was released in 2016 exclusively for the PS4. It may not have achieved blockbuster sales, but it was widely praised for its emotional storytelling, innovative mechanics, and the bond it created between a boy and the creature known as Trico. PC players keen on experiencing the game can now do so via the ShadPS4 emulator. While there are still some lingering graphical errors and missing visual effects, it is, for the most part, playable on even Valve’s handheld device.
