'The Last Guardian' release happening despite trademark lapse

Team Ico and Sony's The Last Guardian video gameWikipedia

Despite the lapse of "The Last Guardian's" trademark, Sony assured those who are waiting for the action-adventure game that the project will push through. 

Recent reports claimed that the U.S. trademark of the game has been abandoned, but it does not mean that it will not see the light of day in the near future. In fact, a representative from Sony confirmed in an interview with GameSpot that the game is still under development. 

The abandonment of the game's trademark title happened when Sony failed to answer the documentation sent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on July 2014 that warned them about the lapse of the game's trademark. It is a requirement to renew the trademark extension every six months, but the company's last move to file for the extension happened on July 11, 2014. After that, the gaming company failed to comply with the trademark renewal process, which is why it was cancelled completely. 

However, there is recent news that the company has already filed for a revival of the game's trademark.

Prior to the petition for revival, there have been speculations on why the game distributor decided to let go of "The Last Guardian's" trademark. According to iDigitalTimes, Sony may be planning to change its title to a new one. 

But just like what an insider source from Sony told GameSpot, they "can confirm that the Last Guardian is still in development" but it will be under "completely new conditions." This could mean that the game, which was initially announced during the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, may possibly be transferred from a PlayStation 3 format to its next-generation PlayStation 4.

"The Last Guardian" is being developed by Team Ico led by game director Fomito Ueda. Earlier reports linked the third-person action-adventure game to the previous releases of the developer, including "Ico and the Shadow of the Colossus." However, the game developer did not confirm or deny the connection between the three games. 

Up to now, both Sony and Team Ico have not revealed any official statement regarding the game's release date.