The Last Guardian Producer Leaves SCEJ For London Based Social Games Company

Just days after creative lead Fumito Ueda reassured fans regarding the development of The Last Guardian, news of another departure has surfaced. This time it's the game's executive producer, who's left Sony for London based casual games studio, Bossa.

Yoshifusa Hayama worked as the executive producer on The Last Guardian, as well as ICO and Final Fantasy. Hayama was a vice president at SCE for four years. He'll now join Bossa as a creative director. You can see the company's irritatingly "new age" website through here.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Hmmm.

Before we get carried away, it's perhaps worth injecting some reality. The Last Guardian has been in development for a long time, and Hayama may simply have wanted a new challenge. Either way though, it's not really looking good is it?

Update @ 12:14AM GMT: Develop Online is reporting that Sony has "employed a company-wide gagging order on publicly discussing Ueda’s employment situation". Ruh-roh.