In an IGN interview, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda expressed sadness over Bluepoint Games’ closure and hinted their next collaboration could have been an ICO remake.
Fumito Ueda, the legendary creator of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian, has revealed in an IGN interview that he had hoped to collaborate with Bluepoint Games at least one more time before Sony shut the studio down in March 2026. When pressed on what that project might have been, Ueda smiled and said two words that sent ripples through the gaming community: “Maybe ICO.”
What Did Ueda Actually Say?
Speaking to IGN during a press cycle for his upcoming game gen ATLAS, Ueda addressed Bluepoint’s closure with visible emotion. He confirmed he received no advance warning from Sony. “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,” he said. “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.”
The interviewer then asked what kind of project Ueda might have envisioned with Bluepoint. His response was measured but telling: “That would be hard to answer. I mean, maybe I guess, as we know how Bluepoint operated, is that they work on really good remakes, right? So it would be maybe something like that. But yeah, it’s just sad that they’re no longer around.” When the interviewer suggested “Maybe ICO?”, Ueda replied with a smile: “Maybe ICO.”
Why ICO Is the One Game That Deserved This Remake
ICO launched on PlayStation 2 in September 2001. It was Fumito Ueda’s directorial debut and a landmark moment in game design. Built around Ueda’s “design by subtraction” philosophy, the game stripped away conventional HUD elements, complex combat systems, and dialogue in favour of raw atmosphere and emotional connection. Players guided a horned boy named Ico through a vast, crumbling castle while protecting a mysterious girl named Yorda from shadow creatures.
The game scored 90 on Metacritic and earned a place on IGN’s “Top 100 Games of All Time” list. Despite being a commercial underperformer, with initial sales below 700,000 copies, ICO became one of the most critically celebrated and influential titles ever made. It inspired everything from the puzzle design in modern adventure games to the emotional storytelling in titles like Journey and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Among Ueda’s three PlayStation classics, Shadow of the Colossus received a ground-up Bluepoint remake in 2018, and The Last Guardian arrived as a PS4 game in 2016 with visuals that still hold up reasonably well. ICO, however, remains stranded in 2001. The only modern way to experience it was through the 2011 HD remaster bundled with Shadow of the Colossus on PlayStation 3, a collection that was itself handled by Bluepoint Games. No PS4, PS5, or PC version has ever been released.
Bluepoint and Ueda: A History of Collaboration
Bluepoint Games and Fumito Ueda had a working relationship that stretched back over a decade. In 2011, Bluepoint developed The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for PS3, which remastered both titles in HD. Ueda described Bluepoint at the time as “real craftsmen” who understood the fundamentals of his games and had genuine passion for the source material.
That trust carried into the 2018 Shadow of the Colossus remake. While Ueda was not deeply hands-on with the project, focusing instead on his own new work at genDESIGN, he submitted a proposal of changes and was kept aware of the direction. The result was widely regarded as one of the finest remakes in gaming history, a modernisation that honoured every creative decision in the original while delivering a visual showcase for the PS4 Pro era.
This track record is precisely what makes Ueda’s “Maybe ICO” comment sting so much. The creative trust was already established, the studio had direct experience with the source material, and the technical capability was proven beyond any doubt.
How Bluepoint Games Was Lost
Sony acquired Bluepoint Games in September 2021, following the critical success of the Demon’s Souls PS5 launch remake in November 2020. The deal was expected to secure Bluepoint’s future and expand Sony’s remake pipeline. Instead, Bluepoint never released or even announced another game under Sony’s ownership.
Under PlayStation Studios management, Bluepoint spent several years developing an unannounced live-service God of War title. After Sony cancelled that project in January 2025, amid a broader retreat from its Games-as-a-Service strategy following the Concord failure, the studio scrambled to pitch new concepts. According to Bloomberg reporting, Bluepoint proposed a Bloodborne remake, but FromSoftware rejected the idea of a third-party studio handling the project. The studio also pitched an updated Shadow of the Colossus with new content and a Ghost of Tsushima spin-off, but neither proposal was approved.
By February 2026, more than a year had passed without a green-lit project. Sony announced the God of War Trilogy remake without involving Bluepoint, which reportedly alarmed the studio’s employees. One week later, the closure was confirmed. Approximately 70 developers lost their jobs, and the studio formally shut its doors in March 2026. Sony acknowledged Bluepoint’s “technical expertise” and “quality experiences” in its farewell statement, but fans and industry observers widely labelled it another case of a botched PlayStation acquisition.
No ICO Was Ever on the Table Internally
It is worth noting that despite Ueda’s wishes, there is no public evidence that an ICO remake was ever formally pitched by Bluepoint to Sony. The projects Bluepoint did pitch during its final months included the Bloodborne remake, the refreshed Shadow of the Colossus, and the Ghost of Tsushima spin-off. ICO was not mentioned in any of the reporting on those pitches.
Ueda’s comments sound more like a personal hope than an account of a cancelled plan. He did not say “we were in talks” or “there was a plan.” His language was open-ended and speculative. But even as a hypothetical, it resonates deeply. If Bluepoint could transform Shadow of the Colossus into a breathtaking modern showcase, imagining what the same team could have done with ICO’s haunting castle, light-and-shadow puzzles, and wordless emotional bond is genuinely tantalising.
What Is Fumito Ueda Working on Now?
Ueda’s attention is firmly on gen ATLAS, the first game from his independent studio genDESIGN, published by Epic Games. Officially revealed at Summer Game Fest 2026 after being teased as “Project Robot” at The Game Awards 2024, gen ATLAS is described as a single-player, open-world action-adventure set on a vast, abandoned planet littered with the remains of colossal robots.
The game is being built in Unreal Engine 5 and is confirmed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store. This marks the first time a Fumito Ueda title will launch on non-PlayStation platforms. No release date has been announced. Ueda has said he is happy for fans to consider gen ATLAS a “fourth entry” in the spiritual lineage of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian, even though it is not a direct narrative continuation.
Ueda has also expressed a wish to see his older games come to PC. “If there is such an opportunity, I think it’s only good news for the games,” he told PC Gamer. However, Sony owns the rights to ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and almost certainly The Last Guardian, making any port decision entirely dependent on PlayStation’s strategy. With Sony having recently pulled back from PC releases, the prospect of these classics reaching a wider audience remains uncertain.
Could Anyone Else Remake ICO?
With Bluepoint gone, Sony has lost its premier internal remake studio. The question of whether another team could handle an ICO remake is purely speculative at this point. Sony has not announced any plans for the title, and Ueda himself has no ownership over the IP. The creative trust that existed between Ueda and Bluepoint was built over years and multiple projects, something that would not be easily replicated with a different developer.
For now, ICO remains one of gaming’s most important works without a modern way to experience it. Ueda’s quiet admission, delivered with a smile and two simple words, may be the closest fans ever get to knowing what could have been. The parallel timeline where Bluepoint rebuilt ICO’s crumbling castle with current-generation rendering and preserved Ueda’s melancholic, minimalist vision is one that will linger in the imagination of every player who ever held Yorda’s hand through those shadowed halls.
