Paving The Road To A Dream

ICO (イコ Iko, pronounced "ee-co") is the first of Team ICO's games, first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. The game has since received a European reprint in 2006, to celebrate the PAL release of Shadow of the Colossus, Team ICO's second game (as well as a "spiritual prequel" to ICO). ICO was re-released alongside Shadow of the Colossus as part of The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection for the PlayStation 3 on September 2011.

ICO formed in Fumito Ueda’s mind long before he acquired the necessary assets to realize it. In February 1997, he tried his luck and sent Sony Computer Entertainment his application to join the giant’s software division. Although he did not have an extensive past experience working with 3D software, or with video games in general, his artistic vision and quirkiness* impressed enough to be given a chance and sixteen weeks later, when asked the question ‘Why do you want to join Sony?’ his answer was simply ‘To create a game called ICO.’

Fumito Ueda spent the first three months of ICO’s creation in front of a small fifteen-inch monitor, working alone for many hours each day. He wanted to transfer his vision into something which could be used to pitch his ideas and gain the right resources to make it into a product. Using Lightwave 3D, he created a two-minute long clip depicting the adventures of a young boy, and a slightly older girl with horns fleeing the castle in which they were confined.

When the day to present the demo came, the board presided by Shuhei Yoshida, impressed by Ueda’s effort, called for Kenji Kaido, who while still fairly fresh at Sony, had already amassed ten years’ worth of knowledge working with video games. Kaido’s latest project was Ape Escape, the first title to truly exercise the new DUALSHOCK controller capabilities to their full potential. The reason for his call-out was that the board saw fit putting these two men working together as their individual skills and talents united would ensure a bigger possibility of success. In September 1997, with Ueda as Director and Kaido as Producer, ICO was given the green light for a PlayStation release, and a budget was allocated for its full production.

Note: One of Ueda’s portfolio concepts was ‘Tyrant Kitty,’ which showed unwary art gallery patrons peering into what seemed to be an empty cage before being sprayed with dirt, supposedly kicked up by an imaginary subterranean cat.