The Last Guardian executive producer quits Sony

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 7 December, 2011

Joins social game studio Bossa.

The executive producer of PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last Guardian has left Sony to join a Facebook game developer.

Yoshifusa Hayama, who for four years worked as vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment, has joined Monstermind creator Bossa Studios as creative director.

Before The Last Guardian Hayama worked on the Final Fantasy series and Ico. At Bossa he will work on the studio's first 3D game, set for launch this year.

The news comes following the revelation that Team Ico chief Fumito Ueda had left Sony and will work on The Last Guardian in a freelance capacity. As Eurogamer reported last month, Ueda will embark on new projects following the release of the 2012 game.

Speaking today, former colleague Hayama said: "The future of gaming is definitely online and thanks to recent developments with Flash 11, there is no reason why a social game can no longer be as visually stunning and as compelling as the big console titles.

"Together at Bossa we have plans to bring a plethora of games to Facebook and eventually other appropriate social media channels, which include 3D elements and can be enjoyed by all age and interest groups."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rizo #1 6 months ago

    Can I apply for his old job?

  • Lexx87 #2 6 months ago

    Facebook gaming is such an awful propersition for me, I don't like seeing it go this way.

  • Pacmaninov #3 6 months ago

    "Together at Bossa we have plans to bring a plethora of games to Facebook and eventually other appropriate social media channels, which include 3D elements and can be enjoyed by all age and interest groups."

    I don't want to live on this planet anymore

  • Widge #4 6 months ago

    Seems like devs are not liking the AAA games industry.

  • Biker_Bob_1971 #5 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 16:59:10 06-02-2012

  • ZuluHero #6 6 months ago

    @Pacmaninov I agree. I have some nanobots that can clean water for us, lets find some lifeless rock to live on?

  • Jabjabs #7 6 months ago

    I would figure that if you had been working in the more traditional games industry for many years that social games would be exciting at the possibilities. That said it is like every developer that tried to make an MMO after WoW. They saw the potential but totally missed the point.

    Best of luck to him but I'm guessing the social gaming scene will be like WoW, have a few out break hits and thousands of corpses for which never made it big.

  • NotSoSlim #8 6 months ago

    Smells like Sony getting fed up with games progress

  • paulf #9 6 months ago

    I'm not sure the game will launch this year.

    and flash is dead?

  • andywilkie35 #10 6 months ago

    EG - two weeks behind everyone else!

  • Razz #11 6 months ago

  • jefranklin18 #12 6 months ago

    As I have said many times before Facebook/social gaming is the next dot com bubble. Too much money being invested with the limited revenues for all but the big players. Really it is a race between mobile and Facebook gaming as to which is going to implode first.

    My money is (or would be, I should say) on Facebook gaming dying. Ideally the sooner the better ;)

  • Emortal #13 6 months ago

    @paulf, flash is dead in the sense of normal web content, flash 11 seems pretty cool for gaming though, Unreal Engine 3 is already running on it :)
    Just a video so far, but check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQiUP2Hd60Y

  • MattEdWithCheese #14 6 months ago

    Strange, I could have sworn it was Fumito Ueda who left Team Ico… who knows, maybe we'll get a "REPORT" article today…

  • Triggerhappytel #15 6 months ago

    Erm, has it actually been confirmed that Ueda has left Sony then? Last I heard it was just a rumour, albeit one he hasn't denied despite assuring fans on Twitter that TLG is still in development.

  • mastablasta #16 6 months ago

    Everyones leaving, they must know how badly Sony are doing financially.

  • Nico4 #17 6 months ago

    At least The Last Guardian is still coming.

  • arcam #18 6 months ago

    Reminds me of when PC developers jumped shipped to consoles. Now they're jumping from consoles to Facebook, while everyone is complaining how they've moved onto shallow games for kids, and only interested in the money.

  • Obli #19 6 months ago

    Jumped or pushed? Something not at all right in the Team ICO camp...

    Either way, social / mobile games won't be replacing my console gaming. Did the 'personal stereo' (or modern portable equivalent) kill off hi-fi?

    It's all about greed. Whilst trying to cater for the masses, developers are forgetting about those loyal that have been helping this industry grow for the past few decades.
    Edited by Obli at 07/12/11 @ 12:53

  • GundamJehutyKai #20 6 months ago

    @Triggerhappytel : I was under that impression too. I mean, it's likely to be true as "we don't comment on rumours" basically translates to "yes, but we can't say that" but nobody has confirmed it yet. Pretty big gaffe from EG, claiming rumour (for now at least) as fact.

  • -cerberus- #21 6 months ago

    @Pacmaninov: I'm sorry to hear that animal cruelty, religion, war, corruption, famine, poverty, child abuse, terrorism, the Americanization of Europe, etc. hasn't provoked that decision sooner.

  • Mister-Wario #22 6 months ago

    Why exactly is it so important to make games for everyone? I mean, in the world of films we have films for everyone but we also have films for very specific audiences. Suddenly, however, games must disregard this trend.

  • kinky_mong #23 6 months ago

    This is all starting to sound like rats leaving a sinking ship, doesn't exactly fill me with confidence for The Last Guardian.

    Still it's not like I bought a PS3 primarily to play this game... Oh shit. :(

  • metallicorphan #24 6 months ago

    hmm,not good,aren't Team ICO a skeleton team as it is?

  • Kami #25 6 months ago

    @gotyourmoney; There are lots of predictions that this is the next big financial bubble to pop; whether will or not is another matter. But I spat my tea out to see Popcap sold for a billion dollars - no way can I work out why its worth that much.

    It's examples like that, and Rovio and Zynga, that have caused concern. They appear to be valued much higher than their revenue streams - much, much, MUCH higher. Financial analysts have said that this is unsustainable - and they're right, this is a finance issue. Not a technology or gaming issue.

    That's essentially the whole debate in a nutshell. I don't really care as long as we get our moneys worth, but I certainly wonder how drunk EA was when they signed that deal to buy Popcap...

    That, or the accounting was more than creative, it deserved to win an Oscar...

  • Pacmaninov #26 6 months ago

    @ZuluHero



    Sounds like a plan







    @-cerberus-



    And I'm sorry you don't have a sense of humour
    The Americanisation of Europe was definitely second on my list of reasons to leave planet earth
    Edited by Pacmaninov at 07/12/11 @ 14:09

  • Pacmaninov #27 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:30 12-12-2011

  • -cerberus- #28 6 months ago

    @Pacmaninov: I do have a sense of humour ;)

  • DavidBoring #29 6 months ago

    the rumour that eurogamer started about ueda leaving team ico became a fact?
    based on what?

  • Bander #30 6 months ago

    Was there ever a story about Flash 11 being an improved gaming medium now it can do OpenGL/DirectX 3D stuff?

    That seems like a big deal really, but the comments here is the first I've heard of it.
    Edited by Bander at 07/12/11 @ 16:08

  • Kami #31 6 months ago

    @gotyourmoney; Missing the point - you just did. Oscar thing was a joke btw.

    It is true that nothing in the long-term is sustainable, and that businesses are usually overvalued at a point of sale. This is fairly normal and usually ends up with some belt-tightening or price hikes down the road. I think from my rudimentary grasp of the financial criticisms of this arena the complaint is that there is no actual net worth to it. Just theoretical values - like Nagry Birds. It is a brand, but a brand in its infancy. It's valued at hundreds of millions of dollars - but it isn't actually yet worth that. It's a projected value. It's what they hope to get from it. Not what they actually get from it right now.

    This isn't uncommon, I agree (really everyone else - this is normal!), however where the dotcom comparison comes into play is that some of these businesses are seeking finance, or selling their company on, for much greater values than their businesses are actually worth. And greedy corporate people and those desperate to see fast returns on their money are putting their cash into this. This is what has seen the values of these companies inflate to a proportion much larger than you would usually see. People with money think this is a sure winner, with a fast financial turnover.

    To give you some idea of the scale of this - the annual turnover of Popcap is apparently $100 million. That's a lot and makes it a very successful and profitable business - and that's good. We like sensible profitable businesses in the world.

    It's been sold to EA at near as makes no difference $1 billion. That, if my math doesn't fail me, is a 1000% more than its annual takings. And even with IP, staff and facilities, I'm not sure you could make a billion dollars from Popcap if you took it apart piece by piece. I don't even think you'd get half that.

    And it's not just Popcap. Disney bought Playdom for $740 million. Angry Birds developers Rovio took in $42 million in funding from shareholders and later, those same shareholders later stated that the funding was "unnecessary". So where did the money actually go again? What was the point of the funding exercise?

    I think this is why people call it a bubble. A lot of money is being poured in, and the truth is - a lot of them, even EA, are very unlikely to see a return on their investment or purchases - even if it isn't a bubble, people are very unlikely to see a return on their purchases and investments. To some of these economist analyst people, this is cause for real worry. Money goes in, and money doesn't always come out. A bit like Greece. Too soon?!

    But of course, all the doom and gloom aside, it's all just warnings for the moment and everyone enjoys the boom. And I agree, it's a booming scene in a time of recession. That's actually, potentially, a good thing. They pay taxes and VAT and all the other fees and charges and they keep money rolling along. All is good.

    But sometimes, warnings are said to get companies to be a bit more realistic, manage themselves better, make better decisions. Analysts are seeing irregularities and worrying trends and just saying, "You know what? As much as we love to see a market doing well, how about... being sensible? You know, so you can have all this fun and joy and you know, not end up bankrupt in a few years because you can't pay your debts?"

    For all those who think that their accountants and big-wigs would know... the banking crisis. Our budget defecit. The Euro. They should know better, but like anyone else... woo money woo. It's the good times and they're having a ball, and there's no real planning for if and when the wheels come off this gravy train. And that's always a bad thing - and a lesson many should have learned a dozen times over by now.

    Serious post is serious, and I don't like it :( I'm in a cheery mood and this has just made me look like a depressive, over-critical twat.

    Oh wait, no change there...

    edit; most of this is just from what I've read the past few months and therefore could all be doom-and-gloom rubbish. Genuinely, I don't actually know - this isn't my field of expertise, but I have a basic grasp of it - overvaluation is bad and potentially dangerous.

    I'd like to think it will all be unicorns and rainbows and fluffy bunnies. It just makes my day much nicer. But I understand the criticisms. I just think if people don't learn from past mistakes, they deserve to fail.

    That's my general stance on it anyway.
    Edited by Kami at 07/12/11 @ 16:35

  • Yeoung #32 6 months ago

    A moment of silence for this fallen hero..

  • bionic_v2 #33 6 months ago

    Really looking forward to The Last Guardian

    I really cannot be bothered with Facebook games

  • Subdominator #34 6 months ago

    This is not some guys leaving The Last Guardian. This is Sony strongly suggesting people look for another job because development of TLG is so slow. Seems to be a problem with almost all Japanese studios of Sony, they take a lot of time. Part of the reason why Sony is buying so many western game studios lately.

  • Dave #35 6 months ago

    @gotyourmoney: that was an interesting read, thank you.

  • mukki #36 6 months ago

    As long as the last guardian is still coming out... He can do whatever he wants...

  • mukki #37 6 months ago

    @Emortal pretty impressive stuff, thanks for the link

  • Lunastra78 #38 6 months ago

    It's like if Tarantino quit movies to do shampoo ads.

  • puddleduck #39 6 months ago

    @Lunastra78

    What, tons of ripped off Shampoon ads? :p