[UPDATED] ‘The Last Guardian’ has been canceled; Gamestop refunding pre-orders

UPDATE 2: A major update to this story is here.

UPDATE: Prepare for an epic battle of “he said/she said.” Sony’s Patrick Seybold has gone on record saying that The Last Guardian has not been canceled, and we checked with a couple of our Sony reps, who have heard no mention of the game being shelved. It’s no accident that the below phone call was made, and the game was removed from Gamestop’s database, so we’ll keep you posted with Gamestop’s inevitable response.

Team ICO’s oft-delayed and much sought after The Last Guardian has had its share of development troubles lately. From the no-shows at major conferences like E3 and Tokyo Game Show, to the game’s executive producer leaving Sony, we’ve been fearing the project would be canceled. Today, sadly, many signs are pointing to this becoming reality.

Moments ago we noticed a tweet from our pal Veg1v0, showing a search for The Last Guardian at Gamestop.com, yielding zero results. A google cache search shows that the game was clearly there before, with several comments and available for pre-order.

Now, Gamestop has begun calling pre-order customers informing them of the cancellation. We just called 2 of our local Gamestop stores and they have confirmed the news, though we must point out that Sony has not yet announced this as being official, so please take it with a small grain of salt. Still, this audio proof of the phone call says “We have been notified by the vendor that production of “The Last Guardian” has been canceled.”

It’s definitely a somber day for fans of Team ICO, and the developers themselves, and we wish them the best in the future.