Company type | Division |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 1997 |
Defunct | 2011 |
Fate | Merged into genDESIGN |
Successor | genDESIGN |
Headquarters | Japan |
Key people | Fumito Ueda |
Products | Ico Shadow of the Colossus The Last Guardian |
Owner | Sony Computer Entertainment |
Parent | Japan Studio |
Team Ico was a Japanese video game development studio led by game designer Fumito Ueda. It was part of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio's Product Development Department #1, and had developed the games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus , both for the PlayStation 2. The team was also initially responsible for The Last Guardian before Ueda's departure in 2011 and the formation of a new company taking over development in 2014. [1] [2] Their games are usually characterized by minimalist storytelling and gameplay, an atmospheric use of bloom and high dynamic range rendering (HDR) lighting, and use of fictional languages. Their products are frequently cited as examples of video games as an art form. [3] [4] [5]
In February 2007, Team Ico took out a full page advertisement in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu .[ citation needed ] The advertisement featured some early concept sketches on note paper, suggesting that the team's new game was then in the early phases of design. The following year, Sony updated its careers section with the first screenshot [6] of Team Ico's third game headed to PlayStation 3. Posts available were for planners, animators, artists and effect designers. [7] In March 2009, Fumito Ueda, the lead designer of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, said the new game, "might be something similar to what's been done.... The essence of the game is rather close to Ico." [8]
A video released in the weeks before E3 2009 showed early footage of the game with its working title, Project Trico. The video shows a young boy befriending a griffin-like creature, which appears to combine the functionality of Yorda from Ico with that of Agro and the colossi from Shadow of the Colossus, acting both as a companion and as a form of transportation which can be freely climbed upon. [9] E3 2009 revealed the project's release title as The Last Guardian . [10] Eurogamer reported that The Last Guardian had been posted for release for October 7, 2011 by UK retailers Asda, Tesco, Zavvi, The Hut, and Woolworths. Sony had stated that the game would make its release in the fall of 2011. After the first two God of War games were ported for the PlayStation 3, Ueda mentioned in an interview at the Tokyo Games Show of an interest to do the same with both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. [11] The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection was confirmed at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, and was released worldwide in September 2011.
During E3 2015, four years after the game had last been seen, Sony aired an official trailer for The Last Guardian, revealing along with it that the game was to be released in 2016 for the PlayStation 4. The trailer revealed that production was shifted to a new company founded by Ueda and other former staff known as genDESIGN, [2] while Japan Studio would focus on programming and implementation. While the closure of Team Ico was never formally announced by Sony, it was predicated on Ueda's departure from Sony in 2011, following by several other members of the Team Ico staff the following year. Most of these became part of genDESIGN, the studio that completed the development of The Last Guardian. [12]
Game title | Initial release | Platform | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ico | September 24, 2001 | PlayStation 2 | |
Shadow of the Colossus | October 18, 2005 | PlayStation 2 | |
The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection | September 22, 2011 | PlayStation 3 | Developed with Bluepoint Games |
The Last Guardian | December 6, 2016 | PlayStation 4 | Development moved to genDESIGN in 2014 [2] |
Ico is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was released in North America and Japan in 2001 and Europe in 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game around a "boy meets girl" concept. Originally planned for the PlayStation, Ico took approximately four years to develop. The team employed a "subtracting design" approach to reduce elements of gameplay that interfered with the game's setting and story in order to create a high level of immersion.
In the history of video games, the sixth generation era is the era of computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 21st century, starting on November 27, 1998. Platforms in the sixth generation include consoles from four companies: the Sega Dreamcast (DC), Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), Nintendo GameCube (GC), and Microsoft Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998, with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, which was joined by the PlayStation 2 on March 4, 2000, the GameCube on September 14, 2001 and the Xbox on November 15, 2001, respectively. On March 31, 2001, the Dreamcast was among the first to be discontinued. Xbox in 2006, GameCube in 2007 and PlayStation 2 was the last, in January 2013. Meanwhile, the seventh generation of consoles started on November 22, 2005, with the launch of the Xbox 360.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a 2005 platform game developed by Sega Studios USA and published by Sega. It is a spin-off from the Sonic the Hedgehog series starring the character Shadow. It follows the amnesiac Shadow's attempts to learn about his past during an alien invasion. Gameplay is similar to previous Sonic games, featuring fast-paced platforming and ring collecting, but introduces third-person shooter and nonlinear elements. Shadow uses a variety of weapons to defeat enemies and complete missions that determine the plot and playable levels.
Shadow of the Colossus is a 2005 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It takes place in a fantasy setting and follows Wander, a young man who enters an isolated and abandoned region of the realm seeking the power to revive a girl named Mono. The player assumes the role of Wander as he embarks on a mission that might entail Mono's resurrection: to locate and destroy the colossi, sixteen massive beings spread across the forbidden land, which the protagonist traverses by horseback and on foot.
Enemy Zero is a 1996 horror-themed adventure video game for the Sega Saturn, developed by Warp and directed by Kenji Eno. Players assume the role of an astronaut who awakens from cryogenic sleep to find her spaceship overrun by invisible creatures who are hunting and killing the ship's crew. They must navigate through the ship in a combination of puzzle-driven exploration rendered in full motion video and first-person shooter sections rendered in real time, during which they must rely on sound to either avoid or kill the invisible enemies.
A spiritual successor is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their preceding material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.
Fumito Ueda is a Japanese video game designer. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer of Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005) while leading Team Ico at Japan Studio, and The Last Guardian (2016) through his own development company GenDesign. His games have achieved cult status and are distinguished by their usage of minimal plot and scenario using fictional languages, and use of overexposed, desaturated light. He has been described by some as an auteur of video games.
Killzone 2 is a 2009 first-person shooter developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the second main installment in the Killzone series, following 2004's Killzone.
Osaka University of Arts is a private arts university located in Kanan, Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The university was founded in 1945 as Hirano English Cram School, changing its name to Osaka School of the Fine Arts in 1957, and then to Naniwa University of the Arts in 1964. The university adopted the current name in 1966.
Eight Days is an unreleased action video game that was being developed by London Studio for the PlayStation 3. The game was reported to have been cancelled on 4 June 2008, but was later revealed in October 2009 that the game was merely on hold. Although a portion of the game was used in a tech demo at E3 in 2005, the game was first announced at Sony's E3 2006 press conference.
Keiichirō Toyama is a Japanese video game director and designer, best known as the creator of the Silent Hill, Siren and Gravity Rush franchises.
Kenji Eno was a Japanese musician and video game designer. He gained a reputation as a maverick during the mid-1990s for creating unorthodox games like Real Sound and is perhaps best remembered today for his rebellious marketing techniques. Outside of his homeland he was best known for his survival horror video games, D and Enemy Zero. Apart from creating video games, Eno was also a well-regarded electronic musician and he created the scores for several of his games. Eno founded the video game development companies EIM, Warp, and From Yellow to Orange. He also worked in a variety of fields apart from video games and music including the automotive, cellphone, tobacco, and hotel industries. Eno died on February 20, 2013, due to heart failure brought on by hypertension.
Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it was best known for the Ape Escape, LocoRoco, Patapon, Gravity Rush, and Knack series, the Team Ico games, Bloodborne, The Legend of Dragoon, and Astro's Playroom. In April 2021, Japan Studio was reorganized and merged with Team Asobi and other SIE studios.
Bluepoint Games Inc is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, the studio is known for video game remasters and remakes, such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015), Shadow of the Colossus (2018), and Demon's Souls (2020). Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired the company in September 2021, making them a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.
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Since 2014, genDESIGN has been handling all creative efforts for the highly-anticipated title The Last Guardian, all under the direction of Fumito Ueda.