UPDATE: Following the publication of this story, Sony has since filed for a petition revive the abandoned trademark application, which can be found here.
The original story follows below.
The Last Guardian's trademark in the US has been abandoned, but it appears this was due to an administrative error at PlayStation America, as Sony has confirmed to GameSpot that the project is still in development.
According to documentation on the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the group sent Sony a notice in July last year, informing that the trademark needed to be extended.
Although Sony has, since 2013, habitually extended the game's trademark, it made no action following the most recent request. As such, the trademark was cancelled.
However, amid speculation surrounding what this means for the protracted and troubled project, Sony has told GameSpot that it "can confirm that the Last Guardian is still in development".
The Last Guardian has now been in development for more than half a decade after being formally announced in 2009, though director Fumito Ueda said his creative contribution to the project was completed a "long time ago."
The most recent news surrounding The Last Guardian was revealed in December last year, when Ueda said in an interview that the game was moving forward under "completely new conditions."
It's possible Ueda was referring to the game transitioning from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4. The Last Guardian was initially announced back in 2009 as a PS3 title, though Sony has dodged questions about platforms ever since.
This is exactly why the game industry needs to stop announcing games years before they come out.
Who would of thought back in 2009 that the PS4 would be released before this...
@dogknight6 Kids have started and finished high school in the gap between then and now...
I think it will be in their best interest to release it under a completely different name. "The Last Guardian" has reached punchline statusas far as dev time goes. The negative connotation with it would do more harm than good. If the name changed to something else, the industry and everyone else would still know that it is the same title. They can shrug off the negativity while still keeping positive hype as no one will know exactly how long it took to develop this one anymore.
long ass dev periods = better game - duke nukem
@Mr_Mark_Legion Has Paradigm Shift shift taken place ?
@Mr_Mark_Legion You better be right about that.
Wow look at all these people saying they don't give a damn when they have enough time in their lives to come here and comment on this article.....and somehow when this game launches everyone will be magically very interested in it and will say they had faith all along....even the one's who will never play this.
i doubt even 40% of you completed ico or shadow of colossus......
YAY!!
Is this going to be the new Too Human(initially in development for the PS1, then ended up being launched on the X360, and it wasn't very good) ?
Breaking News:
It has been officially announced that "The Last Guardian" and "Half-Life 3" will be released in a special bundle called:
"When Hell Freezes Over Bundle" release date will be 9/9/9999!!!!!
Pre-Order NOW!!!!
@homey_d_clown It will contain a demo for Shenmue 3.
@0m39AX @homey_d_clown those feels
I reckon they developed it for a couple of years after announcing it, spent a year and a bit trying to fix whatever problems held it back, and then just started from scratch with a PS4 version.
Whatever the case, I've lost my excitement over it by now. I'll still pick it up on day one if it gets released. If not, I've already come to terms with it.
This is the classic case of announcing a game too early. In Sony's defense, they probably felt pressure to release info about it prematurely. Remember, it's way better for a game to come out late and functional than on time and broken. It's just like Tom Petty always said, "The waiting is the hardest part." (I think he was the mayor of a town or something?).
I heard you like development, so we put development in your development so you can develop while you develop.
This game is the next Duke Nukem Forever, this is history in the making.
It's pointless trying to reassure players that this game is still in development, because ultimately, words are just words. We want to see you walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
If you want us to have faith in the sentiment that this game might actually see the light of day at some point in the future, then at least give us something to reaffirm that sentiment, like gameplay videos or new trailers to show that progress is, in fact, being made. But if all you give us is pretty words with no tangible evidence to back them up, we as gamers will lose interest and move on. I think when it comes to The Last Guardian, many have already done just that.
@TenraiSenshi "We're still working on it" - Sony
*five years later and nothing happens*
"We're still working in it" - Sony
The Half Life 3 of Sony's exclusives
F*ck you, Sony.
Sony is the biggest jabroni on the planet.
Geez, this game's been in limbo for so long that the morons forgot to renew the trademark.
And in other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
april's fool already?
@edviges Rob's callendar is broken
@dylandr @edviges Well, I've seen worse grammar...it's been called a callander as well.
This is great news for PS4 gamers, but an E3 demo is really needed to help showcase its recent developments.
@art_of_victory Indeed!
Gameplay or riot! xD
It took so long that 9/10 people already lost intrest good job Sony! you Füçked it up again!
@dylandr Still will wait and see what it is like. People may not be hyped about it but whenever a new game comes out people always get interested.
@Deadlysyns87 @dylandr The scary thing is just like Duke Nukem: Forever it also took really long how do we know that this won't be the same?
@dylandr @Deadlysyns87 It is not changing developers multiple times. Which is what Nukem did.
@Deadlysyns87 @dylandr my other question is do you really think it can battle up against it's previous installment? (Shadow of the Collosus)
@dylandr @Deadlysyns87 well it is by the same team so only time will tell
@Deadlysyns87 @dylandr We shall wait till the winter comes...
move along folks.. just the yearly article reminding us that this game was under development at some point of time. nothing new here
So long in development, even admin forgot about it.
Hoooraaayyyy !!!!
I certainly breathed a sigh of relief. The waiting is getting to me, sure, but I still look forward to it. Its not like this is the only thing I'm waiting for.
@CapnXtraObvious @Drkr_Zen Um, okay...? lol
@Drkr_Zen Jeez, man, if this game gets 100% cancelled, don't let it give you any gray hairs.
Just kill it Sony, not worth the money.
@gajbutler What about we just kill sony and give the playstation to a competent company?
@dylandr @gajbutler Give it to aliens.
But where is The Getaway 3 which was promised prior to the PS3 release date? Yes I did say PS3 not PS4 lol.
@SPBoss I'm pretty sure I can remember reading somewhere that Sony canceled The Getaway 3 way back then, I'm like 90% sure it happened. (I think this was around '07ish?)
I predict that there will be a new trailer for The Last Guardian(for PS4) at TGS or E3 and it will show some new footage and at the end it will say "in development". Because at this point it will always be "in development". However the new footage does not indicate that the game will actually be released.
Kinda how FF Versus XIII took a decade and then team had the audacity to tell everyone that it's "in development". These teams always make sure you know that they are working on these eternal projects, so don't their fans deserve at least some sort of vague release date when you bring it up at a big trade show after a 100 years?
By the way FFXV/Versus and The Last Guardian are like Bigfoot at this moment. Show me the games alive in a zoo if you want me to believe they exist.
So what exactly is this "Last Guardian"? Is it really a spiritual successor to Shadow of the Colossus?
@gamefreak215jd It is indeed.
Once again, a mistake before the article has even begun.