IGN apologizes for The Last Guardian cancellation reports

IGN’s Editor-in-Chief has apologized for reporting that The Last Guardian was cancelled.

Over the weekend, a report surfaced on IGN’s Russia website and said a source confirmed the action-adventure title was cancelled following an internal meeting at Sony, publishers.

However, as social media began buzzing about the supposed cancellation, a Sony executive denied the report.

In reply to IGN’s Senior Editor, Colin Moriarty, PlayStation’s Software Production Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios America, Scott Rhode, wrote: “And I laughed at this rumour over dinner. The Last Guardian has NOT been cancelled.”

After trying to verify the details, IGN’s Editor-in-Chief, Steve Butts, today wrote an apology for the misleading article.

“Last night, I made a call to post a story about the cancellation of The Last Guardian,” he wrote. “The source for this information was, in my opinion as IGN’s Editor-in-Chief, credible enough to justify running the story.

“While there is still a discrepancy with what our source has said, Scott Rhode’s Twitter post makes it clear that our original source was in error. The business of handling news sources involves some assumption of risk and last night my evaluation of that risk was clearing in error.”

After explaining the details behind posting the article, he assured fans of the site that he alone was to blame for the error and no other IGN employee should be criticized.

He continued: “To Sony and Team Ico, who have had to address unexpected controversy on the eve of the year’s largest celebration of gaming, I apologize. To Gamers who feel misled by IGN on this point, I hope to win back your trust and have put in place additional rules to minimize the chance that these errors will occur again.

“IGN strives to be as accurate as possible in all its reporting and I apologize to our audience, our IGN staff, and Sony for the misrepresentation of the state of The Last Guardian.”

Developed by Team Ico, the game follows a young boy and Trico, a giant creature, who work together to evade pursuing guards trying to catch them both.

Originally announced in 2009 as a PS3 exclusive, the title has experienced several delays.