Ico producer leaves Sony Computer Entertainment

Kenji Kaido announced on his Twitter account earlier today that he has retired from Sony Computer Entertainment.

[Hellsvacancy]

Theres goes my patch for SOTC, ive tried countless times to beat the third Colusses on Hard Time Attack, its cheating me of a platinum trophy im telling ya

Thinking about it, this isnt really bad news for The Last Guardian, as people will think, id imagine the script, story, artwork, level design has already been completed, as they said before there just sorting out technical difficulties, like making the character keep his grip so he can stab/kill the big brute!

[Conzul]

Yeah the 3rd on HTA is really tough. You have to stand on the tip of its club and as it pulls the club out of the ground, you've gotta jump and let the momentum carry you onto its abdomen.

Search YouTube, I remember going there and finding a really helpful video back when I was trying to defeat it in time.

[knowyourstuff]

He's just the producer, so it doesn't mean the game will be cancelled per se. It's possible that he has been replaced by someone else since Sony sent an entire team to help that team get The Last Guardian out the door.

Also, no patch is necessary for SOTC, you just need to look up youtube videos of the best way to beat each colossus if you're stuck, you'll get the best strategy on what to do and when to get in on time.

[GuyManDude]

Yup, what Conzul said. Here's what you do:

1) Run at the colossus about 5 paces, then stop and wait for it to swing at you (do not stand on the stone platform).

2) After it swings and gets the "sword" stuck, jump on and run to the crack by the front third of the sword and hold crouch/duck.

3) Look at its feet when it starts to raise the sword. When the sword gets about 1/4 of the way up it'll step down with one of its feet (your controller will rumble). Wait just a moment after its foot touches the ground, then jump towards its stomach.

4) Once on the stomach, jump to its right arm (one holding the sword) and get to its elbow (the last platform before the hair starts on the back of its upper arm). Crouch and wait here until it hunches over forward. Once it hunches over, jump back to the stomach and stab it 4 or so times. You might be able to finish the stomach on the first go, or you can be safe and jump back to the elbow before it starts swinging its waist.

5) Wait at elbow for it to hunch forward again, then finish its stomach (if not done). Back to elbow, wait for hunch, go to symbol on left arm and stab it dark (I think 4 full stabs). Back to elbow, wait for hunch, go to its head and get 3 stabs. Back to elbow, hunch, finish head.

May take a few tries to get the timing down. Here's a video showing the elbow hunch animation at 1:15

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Also, don't hang around the stomach or head and let it start shaking you around. Instead, go back to the elbow and make it hunch forward again before it starts shaking you.

Good luck!

[Jazz4108]

Everyone knows even if last guardian gets released Sony will be closing this studio as well so the man is smart retiring before sony puts him and many more thousands out of jobs because of there poor mismangement of their current company.

[BigStef71]

Yea cuz giving them all the time they needed to finish their first two games and this next one is really poor mismanagement on Sonys part....

@pandaboy
Of course that strategy is gonna lose them money but that's the difference between Sony and other companies. Sony actually cares about taking time and not rushing their products. Thats why they have a dedicated fanbase. Plus in the end they always find a way to make back that money they lost.
Shadows of the colossus hit released 4 years after Ico in 2005. The last guardian was announced in 2009 and it's only been 4 years. Obviously there is a direction in the making of it. Sonys worldwide CEO Yoshida even says that the game is gonna be great and that the only thing holding them back from showing it was some technical issues which they are working diligently on to fix.

[pandaboy]

Actually it is poor management. Decisions like that are costing Sony money, money they don't have to spare. Besides, it shouldn't take this long to make a game unless there is an obvious lack of direction.

[NastyLeftHook0]

Well you see, they belong to the only game company capable of handling original aaa exclusive games, i mean... where else can they go?

[Flavor]

Japan cannot compete with game companies native to their biggest market (USA). The used game industry was the death blow, as Sony et al do not have the passive revenue streams of XBL or strong digital PC libraries to offset the loss from trade ins.

[feraldrgn]

I think I remember reading that he was planning on leaving Sony after finishing TLG anyway.

It's been 4 years, so maybe he's almost finished it & is going to leave the rest of the work to the leftover team, could just be a few technical things to finish.

Here's hoping.

Edit: Also @Flavor, that's just not true, period.
People need to stop it with the "Japanese can't make good games" rubbish.

[isarai]

team ICO doesn't have anything to do with the HD remake(besides the fact that one of the devs were in charge). all of that is handled by Bluepoint Games, they did the conversion and porting of SOTC and ICO.

[ginsunuva]

Kill moar lizards.

[Conzul]

You're not allowed to use lizards in Time Attack Mode.

[prototypeknuckles]

LMAO, thats a little harsh dont you think, I mean Mario cant possibly be milked even though he had 3 games announced at e3,RIGHT LMFAO

[Nes_Daze]

Damn Mario is getting flamed right now...lol

[Xperia_ion]

I wish him well. The guy is very talented.

[bubblebeam]

Same. One of the best games released last gen, and one of the best games released this gen.

Wish him well on future endeavours.

[ChunkyLover53]

Trouble in paradise? People in Japan only retire when something is wrong, or if you are being forced to a "window office". Either way, its never a good sign.

[lodossrage]

To back on that people in Japan only retire when such and such happens comment?

[Knight_Crawler]

@Lodossrage what is your problem dude?

Here is a survey that shows that Japanese people if giving an option would never retire and retirement to them is looked upon is a bad thing.

http://longevity.ilcjapan.o...

Here is another article showing that Japan has one of the highest suicide rate and one of the main reasons is retirement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[GribbleGrunger]

With a name like ChunkyLover53, isn't it obvious that he's japanese. That must be how he knows

[DragonKnight]

He's right. In Japan, your job is almost literally your identity. When you leave a job for ANY reason that doesn't involve an accident or a transfer/better paying job, you look bad and potential future employees are less likely to hire you. It's their culture. Thus, most would not dream of leaving even the absolute worst jobs. As a matter of fact, there was a story on here not too long ago about a woman in Japan who left her job because her boss was being "abusive" and she's had it rough ever since.

[lodossrage]

PROOF please!!

I stayed in Japan for 2 years so I know all about the culture. All the more reason I'm asking for proof of your claims.

Edit- And the reason I keep asking for proof is because I know their culture and what most westerners "perceive" as their culture.

[DragonKnight]

All I can give you is the example of that woman here.

http://kotaku.com/5911353/j...

Plus, while you were living in Japan those 2 years, how many jobs did you have?

[lodossrage]

LOL...yeah I KNEW someone was going to try to use this as proof.

But, that's not proof of the culture. That's just employee harassment. Which happens all over the globe. That in no way is indicative to the culture

And as for how many jobs did I hope during my tenure in Japan, 2.

[DragonKnight]

I already mentioned it before. Plus read the comments section don't just read the article.

And was it difficult for you to get that second job or did you have help?

[Dms2012]

This is collectivistic culture 101, no proof is really needed, and anyone asking for it needs to read.

[lodossrage]

@DragonKnight

I've seen the comments as well as the article.

And the comments (not that the comments should matter in the first place since they aren't the article itself) are coming from people that haven't lived in the country.

So what do they know of the culture over someone that's experienced it first hand?

@Dms2012

No bro, when you make a claim about a culture that you don't live or know of, then you need to have some sort of validation to stake your claim on

Edit- forgot to answer this part

@DragonKnight

No, I didn't have help obtaining the second job of any sort

[DragonKnight]

I don't know what to tell you then. You're looking for some kind of documented proof that people in Japan only retire when something is wrong, but that "proof" probably doesn't exist due to image purposes. No companies want it advertised that people leave because of bad working conditions, they also don't want it advertised that they have stricter hiring policies towards people that left a previous job for any reason except the 2 I mentioned. But whatever, last bubble.

[ALLWRONG]

lodossrage did you just use 5 bubbles doing damage control?

[andibandit]

Sorry lodoss, but dragon is right

[Hicken]

For all we know, that "something wrong" could be in his personal life. With pride and image being as important as they are in Japan, there's little chance we'd get to know anything about that.

Honestly, though, it doesn't really matter whether it's Japan or the Netherlands. People get old and can't or don't want to do a job anymore. They retire. Some wait for one last hurrah. Some just wake up and decide they're done. None of us were there, none of us are involved; we're simply hearing accounts third and fourth-hand, and speculating.

I'm not pointing any elbows, but for some, that speculation can only be negative. Something has to be WRONG. It couldn't be a personal decision; the company involved caused it, some way or another.

Well, those people don't think that way in EVERY situation, though; depends on the company involved.

[BrutallyBlunt]

Stop trying to spin things into a positive because you've spent your entire livelyhood here promoting Sony and everything in relation to that company. There is obviously issues going on behind the scenes. You don't write i have retired from Sony if something is going on in your personal life. You take time off, you don't tweet to everyone about it.

If we don't have any concrete information about The Last Guardian at TGS that means the issues with the game run deeper than we thought. I wouldn't be surprised if they scrap the PS3 version and make it for the PS4.

[Yangus]

Sad...i say Sony next-gen trouble...USA=MS/N
Japan=Nintendoland.

[NYC_Gamer]

How does this mean next gen trouble for Sony?people leave studios all the time doesn't mean it's doomsday..Sony will be fine they have other talent/studios left....

[smashcrashbash]

Yeah can't we just wish the man good luck with his future endeavors without all the hate, flame war, conspiracies and doom predictions?

[sonic989]

if sony wants to hire any top talent they would find a million cause who doesnt want to work for sony ( its like a badge on your CV document to be proud of ) same goes with other big companies like apple , microsoft , samsung , HP and other technology frontier companies or like nintendo EA ubisoft video games frontier
NOTE : sony is with the first group ( tech company )

[ALLWRONG]

Apparently not everyone wants to work for Sony. Did you forget the news while typing?

[sonic989]

i saw the news but seriously i dont want to work at burger king for example which one would be cooler in your CV ( to apply for jobs ) sony or burger king lol
lets live in the real world buddy where fanboys do not exist its business and reputation working with sony is an honor as i mentioned above
also i dont think MS would hire someone working at burger king but would hire some one working at sony far too easily

[XabiDaChosenOne]

I wish this man the best and hope he is successful in all of his future endeavors. Now it's time to move on, yes team ICO made one of the two best games this industry has every experienced but that was in the past. Presently they are struggling to release one game this gen and this gen is pretty much over. After TLG is released (if it's released) Sony should seriously consider whether or not this team is profitable to keep or not. Sony should also concentrate on producing more Up and coming Japan devs that can make games in a reasonable amount of time with out sacrificing quality. It's time for Sony to drop the dead weights in their portfolio of studios to make room for dev teams like. Superbot, quantic dream, Lightbox, Eat sleep play, etc.

[JAM_brz]

Fingers crossed to this news doesn´t affect Last Guardian production. Looks like all go against that game. Has to be made a prayer on the game.

[patriotZero]

You mean Last Guardian?

[JAM_brz]

I already fix that... ;-) My mistake!

[the worst]

dont care
next

[Half-Mafia]

queue another batch of 'Is the Last Guardian dead' articles.

[patriotZero]

but ''last guardian in production'' lol
There won't any person to develop Last Guardian...

[isarai]

He's a producer, not a developer :/

[Burning_Finger]

Let's just hope for Tokyo Game Show. Hopefully Team ICO or Japan Studio is still handling the Project. Last Guardian is probably the LAST game for Team ICO.

[Jockamo]

I guess you could say he was the Last Guardian...

[Moby-Royale]

*facepalm*
:P

Would have worked if he had been Head of Security, or something similar.

Ot: Good luck to him(because I know that he totally comes to n4g and reads good ol' Moby's comments lol ;) and I'm sure somebody will snatch him up.

*typographical error*

[josephayal]

i dont care , i want the last guardian ASAP

[Aceman18]

Sony owned IP how exactly will this go multiplatform?

[WetN00dle69]

PC perhaps

[fabod86]

ehm.... hahahahahahaha
oh lord :D

[izumo_lee]

It is so unsettling what is happening with Team Ico & with the Last Guardian. If anybody has seen that 'making of' feature that came with the Ico/Shadow collection can see how much Mr.Kaido & Mr. Ueda were enjoying their work with the team & how excited they both were with the potential of the Last Guardian. I wonder what has happened the past year that has made these 2 respected game designers question their careers.

My theory is that the huge amount of pressure they both were under to deliver what the media & fans expect from a Team Ico game were too much. The long development time, the technical troubles, the stress in living up to the hype may have finally gotten to both Kaido-san & Ueda-san.

It is a shame & disappointing to hear that such talented people have decided to leave Team Ico. This gen has proven to be very difficult to some of the most respected developer that have made an impact in the game industry. I seriously hope that Team Ico's fate is not like Studio Liverpool & that they can & will bounce back from these set backs.

Cause if Team Ico should fall it would be a very sad day for the gaming industry.

[Sizzon]

Oh :( goodbye, good luck in the future Kenji!

[YoungPlex]

Oh well, maybe he can work with Nintendo or Microsoft, and get the respect he deserves!

[DivineAssault]

you would hope for something as foolish as that.. Putting him & microsoft in the same sentence is just blasphemous.. In case u didnt know, microsoft has no place in japan.. I also doubt he wants to work with current gen hardware for the next 5-6 yrs

[Rampaged Death]

The Last Guardian should be renamed The Last Developer.

[vortis]

..."And Then There Were None"

[Organization XII]

I hope he joins Microsoft

[XB1_PS4]

Mmmm... Yeah, that'd be sweet.

[NastyLeftHook0]

So they can butcher his work like rare?

[XB1_PS4]

No, because I want a game as good as the shadow of the colossus on xbox. I just hope he doesn't retire from gaming for good, and if sony isn't an option then Microsoft is where I'd want him to be.

[WetN00dle69]

Hey man i doubt he will complain if he is gets paid royalties.

[tommygunzII]

Microsoft still has exclusives?

[DiRtY]

BigBig, Zipper, Liverpool and this one seems to be next. There is NO way this studio is profitable at all and Sony can't afford non-profitable studios any longer.

Of course it is bad management by Sony. 2 games in 15 years is just not enough.

[Belking]

Bad news. I bet this studio won't even exist in about 6 months.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

First studios are being shut down now a one of Sony's major publisher exec leaves. This is getting serious fast, Fanboys need to show some more support.

[Angels3785]

LOL cuz retirments, and a publisher exec getting a PROMOTION is a real issue....he didnt leave .....

[Gamerfink]

for anyone struggling on boss 3 on SOTC check this vid out, it will help alot.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Strakken]

Dammit

[Gamerita]

bad news,this guy was behind the best game ever made in it's generation & still better than most games up to this day.

[StreetsofRage]

This is what happens when you run a financially struggling company. Layoffs, firings, different directions, etc... This is serious folks. Sony is changing right before us.

[IRetrouk]

Quick call the police, fire service, FBI, CIA, someone retired, they left a company, they want a change in career, it obviously means trouble when a company restructures, I mean Sony didn't say they were gonna start restructuring or anything did they? I know another company that has closed studios this gen, had people leave there dev companys, had devs buying themselves free, do you know who it is?

[tommygunzII]

You forgot to mention retirements.

[Relientk77]

Kenji Kaido is awesome

thanx for your hard work and epic games

[black911]

Gaming Is Dying!!!!!

2012

[Campy da Camper]

Just like the Raiders offense! We are going to smoke your guys on Thursday!

-12 man

[TheMasterShake]

i don't see the last guardian ever coming out, i think sony just wants TLG to die a quiet death.

[vortis]

Fanboys won't let it go quietly.

[TheKayle]

i said this months and months ago...bad for us ..but say bye bye to Last Guardian

i still hope he join ms or nintendo and not in some company that produce mobile games :(

[sumfood4u]

Very Sad news for both parties, most Sony because it lost two producers working in thaqt project. it only makes sony out to be the Vilian from a Media standpoint.

[SDF Repellent]

First it was Liverpool studio and now ICO studio might might closing s well...hope this is not a trend from Sony.

[isarai]

Well all a producer does is oversee development, chances are there isn't much to oversee anymore. Last info they gave was that it was having "Technological issues" that doesn't really effect development all that much, all that means is there are lots of bugs, glitches, and errors to be polished, a game can still be developed while those are being addressed.

[Man-E-Faces]

I don't care who you are as a developer if you can't put out 1 freaking game in a gen you have NO right to continue sucking money from Sony's bank account. Sony not only funds these games from their studios but also pays their weekly salaries, that's alot of cash wasted on a game that still can't go gold. Last gen Team ICO earned their money 2 great games put out during the ps2's life cycle, Naughty Dog is a perfect example of what other Sony owned studios should strive for 4 games this gen and all high quality it's no surprise as to why Sony puts them on a pedestal. The goal is to make money off of the software to net a profit from the development process, Team ICO have been nothing but leeches this gen.

[IHateYouFanboys]

so in the last year Team Ico has lost its Director/Lead Designer, Fumito Ueda, and now its Producer Kenji Kaido.

if things werent looking bad for Team Icos future already, they definitely are now. this is just jumping before youre pushed by the looks of it, quit or be out of a job when their studio is closed.

its unfortunate because of their previous titles, but expected due to their failure to get a game out in the last 7 years.

[CanadianTurtle]

More unintentional middle fingers to everyone that is waiting for SotC :(

[mt]

sad news is sad

[megamanX2]

lol sony is doomed even their longtime programers are fed up.

[fabiani]

Sony is losing to many studios

[fabiani]

its thier fault because they cant make thier shit work on time

[whoyouwit04]

I heard that microsoft was giving him and that dude that made ninja gaiden there own studio to help with sales in japan.

[dorian827]

Im sure no one cares

[MWH]

nothing last forever. i'm glad we had the opportunity to experience their most inspiring works to date.

[black911]

Times are changing next gen will be the worst gen
Ever wii U,xbox kinect2,ps4 VR/3D

2012

[Edito]

I think Sony is doing the right thing letting them go, cause from a business standpoint Team ICO didn't deliver not a single game this entire gen cmon they are paid to produce games no matter how brilliant you are but if you can't deliver you are not good enough to be part of this game...

[XenoUltra]

why he leave?

[kasser]

I don't really care about who quits and who stays- All what we want is the final product.

[Menashe]

The Last Guardian or Half-Life 3? Which one is more mysterious and more anticipated in the game industry?

[Knushwood Butt]

Sorry if I'm missing something, but what has this guy done in the last 7 years?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[Paballo]

have a feeling they are going to close the studio after they make this game

[DigitalAnalog]

As much as people would like to pin this on Sony, this actually is the sad reflection of the current generation to date. The fact that ONLY AAA blockbusters are able to sustain themselves better compared to other A or AA studios. The gap in production values is so unbelievably wide that we're already seeing the after effects.

Whether or not Team ICO was SONY funded or not, it doesn't change the fact that the rules of this gen is only catered to specific types and genres that we've already seen much saturation with games this gen. People tend to forget the the production manager at Bioshock: Infinite also left but without as much drama as this show cases how benign and ignorant gamers are to-date. Believing that games MUST be catered to their unrealistic expectations rather than let them be developed like the devs intended.

[Gamer_of_the_Year]

People who keep saying "why do people keep bashing Nintendo and Microsoft but keep praising Sony" are forgetting one key FACT:

SONY HAS THE BEST QUALITY IN THE BUSINESS. PERIOD! No, that is NOT objective it is proven by "failure rates of consoles (Xbox being the absolute worst since probably frickin' Atari with the abysmal 360 failure rates), quality of peripherals, metacritic scores of exclusive products, number of quality exclusive products, number of exclusive 1st party devs, capability and power of product line, and overall general word of mouth by conusmers".

THAT'S WHY!!!

[vega275]

Everything except for failure rate is all subjective. What you think is quality others may not. Which eliminates a majority of everything you posted. As far as word of mouth goes. That's another subjective matter also. Cause many people also recommended to their friends and love one to also purchase a 360. Which is a reason why it keeps selling

[Gamer_of_the_Year]

Avg metacitic scores is NOT subjective. It's factual. PS3 exclusives have an incredibly higher median score than Xbox or Nintendo exclusives. There are more PS3 exclusives released this gen than Xbox and Nintendo that is NOT subjective it is factual. Sony owns more ACTIVE first party studios than both Nintendo and Microsoft. FACTS.

What they hell are you smoking?

[vega275]

i love how you cherry picked your original statement to support you argument.

many developer and gaming communities have already said metacritic system is broken. so using that as an excuse as to sony has more quality games is BS.

i also see you re-worded your statement about 1st party devs to now "active" cause you know MS now has more and that's before sony closed the 3 this year.

as far as excluisve games 360 has more if you include xbl games and kinect games. i know you don't cause you don't like kinect and xbl games don't count in your eyes. but they are still games and people do like them outside of N4G.

now what the hell are you smoking

[Tzuno]

Is a loss though.