The Last Guardian Executive Producer Quits Sony

Yoshifusa Hayama of Team ICO has moved to British online and social games company Bossa Studios.

While last week's news regarding the apparent resignation of The Last Guardian's creative director was based on rumor and speculation, this new tidbit is all about reliable information. According to an official announcement, Yoshifusa Hayama, The Last Guardian's executive producer, has left Sony to work as creative director on a series of Facebook projects for British online games developer Bossa Studios.

A quick glance at Hayama's LinkedIn page reveals an impressive roster of games and titles, including his four-year tenure as Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment. It also shows several projects based in England.

In a statement, Hayama said that, "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," he continued.

This news has added a little fuel to the slightly panicked flames growing up around the rumor of a rift of sorts between The Last Guardian creative director Fumito Ueda and Sony. Ueda tweeted that the game (which Google translates from that Tweet as "Trichoderma 大鷲 of cannibalism (The Last Guardian)") is still in development and said that fans really shouldn't worry about it; whether they will continue to do so or not remains to be seen.

The Last Guardian is slated for release in 2012.

Source: Joystiq