From what I understand, Fumito Ueda has near unlimited freedom at Sony. Of course, they probably know he'll ask for things in moderation, but Sony do look upon him as their top designer and treat him as such.
This is why I love Sony. They're not afraid to push bizarre, often niche concepts like Ico/SotC, Patapon, LocoRoco, and LittleBigPlanet.







