Fumito Ueda (上田 文人, Ueda Fumito) was born on April 19, 1970. He is a Japanese video game designer, director, and artist. Ueda is most famous for directing and designing the games Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005) while working at Japan Studio's Team Ico. He also directed The Last Guardian (2016) through his own company, GenDesign. His games are widely admired by fans and are known for having simple stories and using made-up languages. The games also use lighting that is very bright but pale and less colorful. Some people describe him as an independent creative person who has a strong influence on his work.

Early life

Born on April 19, 1970, in Tatsuno, Ueda graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in 1993. In 1995, after working as a visual artist, Ueda decided to join the video game industry. He began working at the developer Warp as an animator on the game Enemy Zero for the Sega Saturn, which was directed by Kenji Eno. Ueda described his time at Warp as difficult, as the game was behind schedule and required extra effort from all team members to meet the release date. Eno, who owned the company, did not believe Ueda was a strong digital artist but selected him for his skill in creating concepts and designs. Ueda worked at Warp for one and a half years.

Career

In 1997, Ueda joined Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. He started working on the game Ico and was given a team of his own because Sony had little experience making games on their own, as they mostly focused on helping other companies develop games like the Ape Escape series. After Ico, Ueda and his small team began working on Shadow of the Colossus.

In February 2007, a Japanese gaming magazine called Famitsu reported that Ueda and his team were making a game for the PlayStation 3. No information about the game’s name was shared. In 2008, Shuhei Yoshida, a leader at Sony Worldwide Studios, mentioned in PlayStation Magazine that Ico and Shadow of the Colossus each took four years to develop, hinting that a new game was being made but was not close to release. The game was officially named The Last Guardian at E3 2009. A trailer showed a story similar to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, featuring a boy like the character from Ico and a giant companion solving puzzles. Ueda later confirmed that The Last Guardian was connected to the earlier games.

In 2009, Ueda told G4tv.com that he admired how Half-Life 2 used cutscenes to tell its story and said he was interested in making a first-person game.

Ueda left Sony in December 2011 but stayed under contract to finish The Last Guardian. In mid-2014, he created a company called GenDesign (stylized as genDESIGN), made up of former members from Team Ico, to help complete the game. At E3 2015, The Last Guardian was announced for release on October 25, 2016, but the release was later moved to December 6, 2016.

In September 2018, Ueda shared that the studio was in the early design stage of a new game, supported by funding from an investment fund called Kowloon Nights. In March 2020, Epic Games announced they would fully fund the game’s development, with both companies splitting the profits equally.

At the 2024 Game Awards, the first trailer for the new game was shown. The game has no official name yet, but the working title is "Project Robot."

Influences and style

He described himself as a curious child who enjoyed catching and keeping living things like fish or birds. He also liked watching and creating animation, as he was interested in things that moved. His favorite subject in school was art. He said, "If I had not worked in the games industry, I would have wanted to become a classical artist. I believe that games, films, books, and manga are all forms of art because they express ideas."

Ueda played many Sega Mega Drive games, which influenced his work. As a teenager, he enjoyed games on the Amiga computer, including Flashback and Another World. Other games that inspired his work were The Legend of Zelda, Virtua Fighter, and Prince of Persia. He was also influenced by the work of Kenji Eno and the manga series Galaxy Express 999 (1977–1981).

Ueda’s games are known for having a unique style, which he calls "design by subtraction." This means his games have simple landscapes, very bright colors, and minimal stories to create a personal and distinct feel. He also said that game ideas should be created first, and then the story should be added to support them. In 2008, IGN ranked Ueda as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. They praised his ability to create games that use mood and puzzles to make players feel isolated, while also giving a sense of hope as characters try to escape or find redemption in their difficult situations.