by 
Bluepoint, the excellent remake studio behind Demon’s Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, no longer exists.
Sony closed the studio earlier this year, after it was unable to settle on a project following the cancellation of its God of War live service game.
Now auteur Fumito Ueda, the Japan Studio icon behind games like The Last Guardian and the upcoming gen ATLAS, has told IGN he was bitterly disappointed by the news – and had hoped to work with the team again, potentially on an ICO remake.
He said:
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube170k
“So obviously, we had no heads-up. We’re not directly in relation with any project, so I heard about it at the same time you guys probably did in the news, and it was disappointing and sad to hear. I would have hoped that maybe in the future there could be a chance to work with them on something. So yeah, it's very sad to hear the news.”
Asked specifically about which projects he would have liked to have collaborated on, Ueda acknowledged the team worked on “really good remakes”. Pushed for a title in particular, he smiled: “Maybe ICO.”
Between its Shadow of the Colossus remake and 2011’s ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection, Bluepoint had deep familiarity with Fumito Ueda’s work.
Rumour has it before its closure, the studio pitched a second expanded remake of Shadow of the Colossus, which Sony shot down before shuttering the studio.
ICO’s sombre story and distinctive art made it one of the PS2’s greatest ever accomplishments; its gameplay, which revolves around the eponymous protagonist holding hands with heroine Yorda, established it as one of the more innovative titles in Sony’s stable.
Ueda left PlayStation prior to the completion of The Last Guardian, founding independent studio genDESIGN, which collaborated with Japan Studio to finish the anticipated PS4 game.
His new title gen ATLAS will release on the PS5, although it’s being published by Epic across multiple platforms, with Sony not directly involved.