Could The Last Guardian Appear On PlayStation 4?

There has been a flurry of speculation surrounding the existence of Half-Life 3 in recent weeks, with Valve achingly teasing fans by registering a trademark for the property in Europe. In terms of other long-gestating projects, though, The Last Guardian has once again raised its colossal head after Shuhei Yoshida spoke about the working title with GamesIndustry International.

Here’s what Sony’s head of Worldwide Studios had to say:

“So, we’re waiting for the right time to re-introduce The Last Guardian in an appropriate way. I can’t… Well, the game is in development, and it’s well staffed, and Ueda-san is here, working – even though he’s not a Sony employee, he’s dedicated to the product. But we’re not ready to update yet.”

We haven’t seen anything from The Last Guardian since its brief showcase at TGS three years ago; given the critical acclaim of its thematic predecessors ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, though, fans of the minimalist series have been chomping at the bit for any new information since its initial reveal back in 2009. Though he remained inconclusive, Yoshida went on to declare that the game is still very much alive and has been in earnest development for years.

“The game has never stopped; the team has always been here. They’re going through the re-engineering of the game, so the team size is smaller, because it’s more engineering focused right now.”

Given the impending release of the PlayStation 4, it’s inevitable that Sony will reshuffle various internal developing teams to compromise with company schedules. So, could it be possible that the core creative group working on The Last Guardian have been shifted from PS3 to PS4 to “re-engineer” Fumito Ueda’s third-person opus for next-gen? Alas, we’ll just have to wait patiently for a little longer.

What are your thoughts? Do you think The Last Guardian will be pushed to PlayStation 4? Or do you think Sony will take advantage of the PS3’s considerable install base a la Gran Turismo 6 and stick with current-gen? Let us know below.