Support NeoGAF

[Mibu no ookami]

I can't help but wonder if Bluepoint had been an internal studio earlier, if they'd been able to help save Team Ico and maybe even by the extent Japan Studio.

It's obvious that Bluepoint has a lot of respect from Team Ico projects having done the remasters of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus before doing a remake of Shadow of the Colossus.

They helped out on Ragnarok and I can't help but wonder if they were utilized to help out on Last Guardian, if it would have been released

a) earlier
b) in a more playable state

and if it was, whether it would have been more financially successful and if there could have been less bad blood between Sony and Fumito Ueda. Maybe he goes on to create another game that was even bigger than TLG and maybe Japan Studio is still around today as a result, which I'm sure people would have been happy about.

 

[BootsLoader]

I’m confused, you mean Bluepoint is the offspring of Team Ico or just was a team that was helping other teams?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I’m confused, you mean Bluepoint is the offspring of Team Ico or just was a team that was helping other teams?

At the time Team Ico was really struggling, Bluepoint was mostly doing remasters for their older games. I can't help but wonder if instead of doing the Ico and SOTC remasters if they were brought on to help TLG project if that would have changed things for Japan Studio.

They aren't an offspring of Team Ico, but they've worked on remastering/remaking their games a lot.

 

[K2D]

I don't think Blue Point remedied anything that lead to the Team Ico closure. Game was already perfect during PS2 days. Blue Point did their new coat of paint without significant changes to gameplay. (IMO a not faithful enough reproduction)

 

[EDMIX]

At the time Team Ico was really struggling, Bluepoint was mostly doing remasters for their older games. I can't help but wonder if instead of doing the Ico and SOTC remasters if they were brought on to help TLG project if that would have changed things for Japan Studio.

They aren't an offspring of Team Ico, but they've worked on remastering/remaking their games a lot.

no.

The Last Guardian is an amazing game for what it is....i don't believe any more work was ever going to change its outcome in regards to sales.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Blue point has to prove themselves as a game design studio not a remake studio. What could have saved ico is an appreciation of art and not just profit. They’re a studio that took risk and sadly risk isn’t always financially rewarded but they transformed many game design philosophies for the better. Same with Japan studio but current Sony is all about big IP so they were doomed from the start.

 

[Arkangelus0]

no.

The Last Guardian is an amazing game for what it is....i don't believe any more work was ever going to change its outcome in regards to sales.

People hate Trico Ai dont work very well, because he ignore you alot and do What wherever the fuck he Want to do

Like a real Pet, the People who hate Trico, are the ones who believe animals are Like in a Disney movie

 

[kiphalfton]

Nope.

Ico and SotC were probably too niche. Bluepoint just provided exposure; once for Ico and twice for SotC. If that didn't help them out, nothing would have.

It also didn't help that Ico on PS2 was hard to come by.

 

[Varteras]

All we know of Bluepoint is that they are quite capable when it comes to making old games look good. I don't think we really know much about their talent outside of that to say if they could have made anyone's game so much better, than it was originally, that it would have been more well received and saved any team or studio from itself. Japan Studio, as it was, wasn't going to be saved. It spent too many years with too many employees to be floundering in relative mediocrity. Including giving the creator of Silent Hill about 20 years to come up with a PlayStation franchise just as big. Which he never did. Many games Japan Studio is remembered for weren't even made by them. By the time it was reformed, Asobi was the only team it had left producing anything truly noteworthy. Which is exactly why staff remaining after the layoffs were folded into Asobi and the studio renamed under it. Team Ico was pretty much gone well before The Last Guardian was finished. As I understand it, the issues plaguing them were probably not something that would have been remedied by bringing in an outside studio. In fact, it may have just made its collapse happen quicker. For as great as their games were, they weren't big selling blockbusters and, because of the nature of their design, never would have been no matter who stepped in. They were highly artistic games and those often have trouble finding a big playerbase.

 

[A.Romero]

Team Ico always did games that were pretty insteresting and daring but without as lot of financial appeal. Regretfully, Fumito Ueda didn't take this into account when bringing his ambitious visions to life.

There is nothing that could have been done for Team Ico other than making Ueda a better business man and in the process maybe killing the creative man.

I like to think of him as as shooting star, to be enjoyed for a brief moment and then disappearing.

 

[NikuNashi]

The issue runs much deeper. TLG was released in 2016.

Since then it has been over 6 years, how many games has Gen Design shipped? In fact they have not even shown a single piece of footage in 6 years. You can put 2 and 2 together and figure out the issue.

 

[EDMIX]

People hate Trico Ai dont work very well, because he ignore you alot and do What wherever the fuck he Want to do

Like a real Pet, the People who hate Trico, are the ones who believe animals are Like in a Disney movie

I don't disagree with you, but those that love that title, generally didn't care.

It wasn't like there was some HUUUUUGE hate thing for that AI that caused people to not buy it. So I think it would be great if that Ai worked better, but I don't believe it would go out here breaking records if it worked right or something. I think as many people that really wanted or liked that game, got it and bought it.

I just don't know that if it could have really sold that much better then it did

 

[BootsLoader]

At the time Team Ico was really struggling, Bluepoint was mostly doing remasters for their older games. I can't help but wonder if instead of doing the Ico and SOTC remasters if they were brought on to help TLG project if that would have changed things for Japan Studio.

They aren't an offspring of Team Ico, but they've worked on remastering/remaking their games a lot.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

No, Epic Games saved them.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Lets get something straight, Team ICO makes amazing original games. Bluepoint remakes said games and were an even smaller studio. Dont know how you came to a conclusion that BP is a bigger deal than Team ICO. They remastered SOTC 4 years after its initial release, where did you see a studio seeing talent in another and going "Hmm come work for us for a bit". Those salaries and legalities wont pay for themselves. If they had the extra budget they would of done it. Same reason EA or Activision dont hire more talent but keep pushing the original team to put out half baked products.

 

[DragoonWalker]

Trico is structurally and asset wise a rather simple game. I'd wager problems were coming from the design of the game thanks to the AI being unpredictable and also the development of the AI itself. What exactly would Bluepoint have done in regards to those even if they were hired to help Team ICO? Until they have proven themselves with an original game, Bluepoint is the antithesis of Team ICO: one makes innovative and wholly original games, the other exclusively remakes and remasters them. We have no idea what Bluepoint can even do in terms of their own ideas. If its an asset farm Team ICO needed, there are cheaper ways to get that.

 

[Rac3r]

I was literally thinking about making a thread about Gen Design yesterday.

Ico, SoTC and The Last Guardian are beautiful pieces of art that will fly over the heads of modern audiences, and sadly will never be very profitable. Still, I wish Sony would invest in Ueda’s studio for old times sake.

I’m excited to see their new game which is supposed to be revealed this year.

 

[bitbydeath]

Ueda left Sony in 2011, 5 years before the release of TLG, so nothing would have changed there.

Last Guardian Creator Leaves Sony, Finishing Game on Contract

Fumito Ueda, the mind behind the masterpieces Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, has left Sony but is helping the company finish his PlayStation 3 game, the company has said. “Ueda-san is in fact under contract, and is committed to completing his work on The Last Guardian,” a Sony representative...

www.wired.com

That’s also the same year BluePoint remade their game.

 

[Ansphn]

Absolutely not. Ueda is TeamICO. His creativity, imagination, ideas cannot be duplicated.

 

[Gojiira]

No I think the issue is Fumito Ueda himself, TLG is Imo a perfect game, it was beautiful and the story was just outstanding much like Ico and SotC.
But the gameplay and design lacks mainstream appeal, or at least it did when it was released.

 

[semiconscious]

Blue point has to prove themselves as a game design studio not a remake studio. What could have saved ico is an appreciation of art and not just profit. They’re a studio that took risk and sadly risk isn’t always financially rewarded but they transformed many game design philosophies for the better. Same with Japan studio but current Sony is all about big IP so they were doomed from the start.

it continues to maze me how a studio that's created exactly one original game (blast factor, 2006) is seen by some as being some kind of powerhouse developer, capable of all kinds of stuff, from creating demon's souls 2 / bloodborne 2 to (now) saving team ico. i'm not saying that they're not, quite obviously, very talented. i am saying that, in the last 15+ years now, they've created, from whole cloth, exactly one game. & that's something seriously worth considering when evaluating their strengths & their potential...