Fumito Ueda | |
|---|---|
| 上田 文人 | |
.jpg) Ueda in 2016 | |
| Born | (1970-04-19)April 19, 1970 (age 55) |
| Occupation(s) | Game director, screenwriter, game designer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Notable work | |
Fumito Ueda (上田 文人,Ueda Fumito; born April 19, 1970) is a Japanese video game designer, game director and visual artist. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer ofIco (2001) andShadow of the Colossus (2005) while leadingTeam Ico atJapan Studio, andThe Last Guardian (2016) through his own development company GenDesign. His games have achieved cult status and are distinguished by their usage of minimal plot and scenario usingfictional languages, and use of overexposed, desaturated light. He has been described by some as anauteur.
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Born on April 19, 1970, inTatsuno, Ueda graduated from theOsaka University of Arts in 1993. In 1995, after trying to make a living as a visual artist, Ueda decided to pursue a career in thevideo game industry. He joined the developerWarp and worked as an animator on the gameEnemy Zero for theSega Saturn under the directorKenji Eno. He described his time there as "arduous",[1] as the game was behind schedule and everyone on the project had to work more than normal to meet the release deadline. Eno, who also owned the company, did not think he was that great a digital artist, but handpicked Ueda because of his talent with concepts and design.[2] Ueda worked at WARP for a year and a half.[3]
In 1997, Ueda joinedSony Computer Entertainment Japan. He began work onIco, being granted his own unit as the studio had little experience in developing games on their own (mostly theApe Escape series) due to their focus on assisting third-party developers. AfterIco, Ueda and his small team started work onShadow of the Colossus.
In February 2007, Japanese gaming magazineFamitsu reported that Ueda and his team were working on a game for thePlayStation 3. No details about the unnamed title were revealed. In 2008, in the August edition ofPlayStation Magazine, Sony Worldwide Studios bossShuhei Yoshida commented that bothIco andShadow of the Colossus took 4 years to develop as a hint that the game was under production, but was not close to release.[4] The game was revealed atE3 2009 asThe Last Guardian, the trailer for which suggests a saga involving elements of bothIco andShadow of the Colossus wherein a young boy resembling Ico partners up with a colossus-sized companion to complete puzzles.[5] Ueda later confirmedThe Last Guardian to be related to the two previous installments.[6]
In an interview withG4tv.com in 2009 he expressed admiration for the method ofcut-scene story-telling in Valve'sHalf-Life 2, and when questioned directly expressed an interest in making a first-person game.[7][8]
Ueda left Sony in December 2011, although he remained under contract to finish work onThe Last Guardian.[9] Around mid-2014, he formedGenDesign (stylized as genDESIGN), made up of former members from Team Ico to help complete development ofThe Last Guardian.[10] AtE3 2015,The Last Guardian was announced for release on October 25, 2016, but was later delayed to December 6, 2016.[11]
In September 2018, Ueda revealed that the studio was at the prototyping stage of designing a new game, supported with funding from the investment fundKowloon Nights.[12][13] In March 2020,Epic Games announced that they would be fully funding development, with the two companies splitting profits in half.[14]
At the2024 Game Awards the first trailer for the game was revealed. The game is currently untitled but "Project Robot" appears to be the working title.[15]
He described himself as a very inquisitive child saying "I enjoyed catching and keeping living things, such as fish or birds. Other than that, I liked both watching and making animation. Basically, I seemed to be interested in things that moved." Among his favorite subjects in school was art. He commented, "If I was not in the games industry, I would want to become a classical artist. Though I regard not only games but also anything that expresses something – be it films, novels or manga – as forms of art."[16]
Ueda played manySega Mega Drive games, which influenced his work.[17] He was also a fan of theAmiga computer platform gamesFlashback andAnother World during his teen years.[18] Other games that influenced his work includeThe Legend of Zelda,[19]Virtua Fighter, andPrince of Persia.[20] He was also influenced by the work ofKenji Eno,[21] and the manga seriesGalaxy Express 999 (1977–1981).[22]
Ueda's games are considered to have a distinctive style, which Ueda himself describes as "design by subtraction", with sparse landscapes, oversaturated lighting and minimalist story to give his games a personal and distinctive feel. Ueda also said that, in video games, ideas for a gameplay mechanic should be made first, then complemented by a game's story. In 2008,IGN ranked Ueda as one of their top 100 game creators of all time, saying that his knack for "creating atmospheric puzzle playgrounds with mute or near-mute characters instills a sense of isolation, yet provides an endearing feeling of hope as the protagonists seek simply to find an exodus or redemption from their weather-worn, ornate prisons".[23]
| Year | Game title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | D no Shokutaku: Director's Cut | Animator[24] |
| 1997 | Enemy Zero | CGI animator[24] |
| 2001 | Ico | Director, game designer, key animator, character designer |
| 2005 | Shadow of the Colossus | Director, game designer, writer |
| 2016 | The Last Guardian | Director, producer, game designer, narrative designer |
| TBA | Project Robot | Director |
1UP: One of your animators on Enemy Zero was a young guy named Fumito Ueda, who most people know as being the creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Did you see his potential, you know, for the future when you worked with him on Enemy Zero? KE: At the very beginning, he didn't pass the application process at Warp. But I still remember the work that he submitted; it was about a dog running in the rain. His technology as an animator, as a CG artist, wasn't that great, but his ideas and his concepts really struck me, so even though he originally wasn't on the hiring list, I handpicked him because I saw his potential. Not potential as a graphic artist, but his design and concepts struck me, so that's why I picked him out. However, people ask me a lot about Ueda, but he didn't stay at Warp for a long time. It's not like I groomed him or anything; he already had the talent when he came to work, and he's a talented person, so he went to whatever future he was supposed to go to. That's how I see Ueda.
[via a Translator]".. the way they [Half-Life 2 developer Valve] implemented constraints was something different that I enjoyed, compared to other games." [...] Q. Given his appreciation for Valve's brand of storytelling and appreciation of what's possible from that vantage point, does that mean he'd consider making a move into the first-person in the future?"I have an interest in making first-person games," he said.
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| Other | |
