And some bits about PS4 in Japan
Not really surprising the info on the game's cost, dunno why people keep thinking it must have become a money sink.
But many other questions remained. A few days later in a quiet hotel suite, I got the chance to put some of them to a relaxed Yoshida, whom I found every bit as affable and enthusiastic as his reputation and Twitter persona would lead you to believe. He laid the blame for The Last Guardian's lengthy delay entirely at his own door, or rather the door of the Sony engineers who couldn't get it running to their satisfaction on PS3 (although it's worth noting that the game's director Fumito Ueda, now working on it as an independent contractor, characterised the delay as "a corporate decision" in a recent Game Informer interview). Yoshida confirmed that PS4 architect and Knack director Mark Cerny had contributed to the game's PS4 retooling, but described rumours that he had been parachuted in to replace Ueda and "save" the project as "totally bogus". He claimed that the game's budget remains relatively modest, despite the epic length of its production, and said that, its tortuous development notwithstanding, he would be keen to work with Ueda again.
It's been in development for a very, very long time. It must be a considerable investment... is it one of the most expensive games you've ever developed?
No, no, not at all. The team is much smaller. Teams in Japan are much smaller in general than teams in the US and Europe... Horizon is a much bigger budget title than The Last Guardian! It's not so small, it's much bigger than Ico or Shadow of the Colossus, but it's not a US or European-style budget.
Would you be interested in working with Ueda-san again, after The Last Guardian?
[Nods vigorously] Everyone would! But we have to finish this first!
Is reclaiming Japanese gamers a focus for you?
Yes, yes... so PS4 has amazing sales, it's selling very well outside Japan because there are amazing games made from outside Japan. It's only this year that, with Dragon Quest Heroes and Bloodborne and Final Fantasy Type 0 and Yakuza, Japanese publishers finally started to make games on PS4 and PS4 is showing some upward swing in Japan. So definitely, Final Fantasy 7 and 15 and Dragon Quest Heroes 2, these games will help.
