Fumito Ueda Discusses Gen Atlas Details, WALL-E Inspiration, And Why It’s Not A Shooter

It’s been a decade since Ico and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda released his last title, 2016’s The Last Guardian, and he’s largely kept his head down during that lengthy stretch. His team at Gen Design has spent years quietly assembling its biggest and most surprising adventure yet, Gen Atlas. First revealed under the codename Project Robot during The Game Awards in 2024, the game reemerged with its proper title and a full-length trailer during the Summer Game Fest showcase. During the event’s press-only Play Days event, we interviewed Ueda to learn new details about the mysterious project, why he’s letting players fire a gun for the first time, the relationship between the player and their giant robot head, and his long-awaited opinion of The Iron Giant. 

Game Informer: How long has Gen Atlas been in development?

Fumito Ueda: We really began designing Gen Atlas in 2020, so we are in our sixth year at this point.

Okay, so that’s about a few years after The Last Guardian was released; what were the years between that game’s launch and the start of development for this game like for you? 

Ueda: So you’re right, there was a little bit of a gap in between shipping the last game and then getting really serious about Gen Atlas. We were actually prototyping a few different ideas or concepts in between that time, and as a brand new studio, we were building the basis of the foundation. That included everything from hiring new team members to really building the operations to what it is today.

Is Gen Atlas set in the same universe(s) as Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, or The Last Guardian?

Ueda: As with all of my previous games, with Gen Atlas, I started building a brand new game, a brand new world. So there is no direct link or connection to any of my previous games. But if I go back in time when I built Ico, and then when I built Shadow of the Colossus, I didn’t know in the very beginning that any of my future games would have a link back or fall back to a previous world or aesthetic build. So in that sense, maybe when this game is out and as the players experience it, you may feel some sort of connection. But that is not intentional, that is not deliberate in a way that the idea was already there from the beginning.

Giant robot media is very popular, especially in Japan. What separates Gen Atlas from other types of mecha media?

Ueda: I’ll start with the “why” with the giant robots, why I’m featuring giant robots in Gen Atlas. And you’re correct, from when I was a little boy, it was out there, I didn’t have to even go too far to even consume media that features giant robots and mechanics. I think it’s safe to say that it’s part of our culture, and so not to say that people outside of Japan cannot make that happen, but I think there’s a huge advantage for me, having been raised in a culture where it was not unusual, it was not familiar, it became part of what I consumed. I feel that there is an advantage for me to tackle this subject and topic for this world-building with giant robots being featured. 

Having said that, I think a lot of times when you think about Japanese, whether it’s manga or anime or robots, they have a little bit more like a fun, toy-ish, you play with robots quality or like an essence to it, but if you look at my games, they’re all really more based on reality. What I mean by that is the movement of the characters, the weight of the characters, the quality, and how you build the relationship with the characters in my game. They’re more grounded in [the] reality of that world. So what I think I’m trying to do is… I am in a position where I grew up with it, and there’s a certain level of know-how and kind of expertise that I could bring to that, but also I want to make it so that it’s more grounded in reality. I don’t want to say toy-like quality, but it’s more true to what you feel is believable in the world that we’re building.

You mention being a kid and enjoying robot media. Is there any specific movie or television show that you enjoyed, whether it’s robot media or even post-apocalyptic media, that served as an inspiration for Gen Atlas?

Ueda: Yes, so Giant Robo, it’s an anime that I know; I still really look back at the times that I was watching the anime, and then, not Japanese, but WALL-E is one that is very near and dear to my heart. Especially the first, and so those are a few that I can easily not just recall, but it has a left a big impression on me.

WALL-E’s a great movie! Going back to potential inspirations, I’ve been tasked by [Game Informer editor-in-chief Matt Miller] to show you this commercial, and to find out if this had any factor in this game’s inspiration.

Ueda: A little bit. There’s a similar toy in Japan as well. [Editor’s Note: Ueda smiled quite a bit while watching this commercial, I promise]

What’s it called in Japan?

Ueda: I don’t even think it’s like a name of a toy. It’s generic enough, but I think there is one that…you know, when you go to the toy store, your parents are going to always pick up the same toy. It’s basically like a category in itself. Sure, I definitely am a little influenced by stuff like this.

How would you describe the general gameplay loop, and the moment-to-moment of what you’re doing in Gen Atlas?

Ueda: I don’t know if we would say it as a flow or a move, but just in general – and because we can’t reveal too much – that as the player character, you will onboard yourself into the robot head. You get to sort of move around and connect that head to said robot torso or body, and then that will open up ways to navigate in this world, whether it’s by combat or through puzzle mechanics.

Can you communicate with the robot head? Is it sentient, or is it a vehicle?

Ueda: The robot head is going to be many things to the player character. At times, it will be a means of transportation, like a vehicle. At times, it will be your navigator. At times, it is more functional to use as a tool. But it’s also going to be your partner, as well. So it doesn’t just serve one thing. It’s going to serve multiple sort of roles.

Your previous games are always notable for the player forming a bond with a second character, whether it’s Yorda, Agro, or Trico. How would you describe the specific sort of bond you hope players will experience with the robot head?

Ueda: So as you said, my hope is that the players will kind of, not figure it out, but it’s really left up to their own interpretation. And I think there’s varying degrees of how they felt the relationship and the bond was forming with the character and their partner, and I don’t feel like I necessarily am trying to control how players intake that. And so that is the same with this game as well.

Is an Ueda game allowed to have a gun? What led to the decision to make what is ostensibly your first shooter?

Ueda: Just so you know, everyone is very surprised, and the way that you asked the question, though, is like, oh, that’s kind of a new twist; “Is an Ueda game allowed to have guns” is not the way people have been asking. It’s kind of surprising to me that so many people have reacted in a similar way. It’s not that I deliberately sort of cross it off the list of what weapons are allowed in my game in the past. It was more about fitting and matching the world setting, and if it’s believable in the reality of the world that we are creating. And I, as a player myself, playing other games, of course, I play shooters, and games that have given me the freedom to feel that. The way that I am now viewing, because of all the questions that have been asked in the last couple days, I feel like the players or the fans of my games have put a restriction on me to not maybe have a gun in my future games, but I never drew a path telling myself that I’m never going to have guns in my games. It’s only because it’s very fitting in this sci-fi sort of roles and universe setting that we built for Gen Atlas.

How much combat is there in Gen Atlas compared to your other games?

Ueda: First of all, I do want to clarify that this is not a shooter. It’s not a game where that is going to be the only game mechanics that you’re going to be playing, and there are other options, or there are other ways to progress throughout the game. So I would say kind of the balance of it is going to really be up to how the player chooses to use this mechanic, and what I mean by that is that it’s not a shooter where you should expect the more you use [the gun], the more you kill, the more scores or points you’re going to earn. [The gun is] really only there to have you overcome the challenges and the hurdles in those moments in those sequences, so you would use it to progress into the game at that moment, so it’s not like the more you do, the higher the achievement, the higher the score, it’s more of an effective and maybe a more efficient way to get through. 

Do the characters in this game communicate similarly as the characters in your previous games? And in a broader scope, how do you approach script writing in your games?

Ueda: In terms of the communication, in my previous games, you have the player character and the other, whether it’s Trico or the giant, or the boy and the girl, it was an NPC that you build a bond with, but had very little to almost very, minimal communication. In this case, you have the humanoid character, but you also have the robot, and you will be communicating in a way that you’re going to probably feel more than the previous games, and in that sense, you’ll see more text, basically, on screen. And it fits the setting. For any sci-fi universe, you can keep a conversation log; you can keep track of that because it’s very natural to see those moments in any kind of sci-fi story. When you have a conversation, it doesn’t just disappear; it can automatically be logged, and that’s very believable. So, in that sense, there’ll be a bit more communication overall.

In terms of script writing, usually I take an approach of like, okay, it has a solid opening and a solid ending. But the in between, I call them sort of like more episodes, are not necessarily fleshed out or spelled out in such a way that a traditional script is written. It’s more about I don’t know how much you know about haikus or short poems, but haikus are not meant to spell out every single word. There’s an in between; that you sort of read in between the words or the phrases, and so how I approach this script writing is that there are these moments and sort of episodes that happen, but whether it’s a visual, whether it’s a character design, or whether it’s work or building, there are sort of key factors that go into building these episodes, and they all have multiple kind of interpretations to it. And it’s really a matter of assembling that into a nice package so it does make sense from moment to moment. 

In terms of scope, how would you compare Gen Atlas to your previous games? Is this the biggest game you’ve worked on? 

Ueda: Yes, it is the largest game that I’m building compared to the previous games. And one of the themes of the game is to actually also feel the sense of scale. 

Is it an open world where you’re free to explore as you wish? 

Ueda: The short answer is yes. So open world, and we’re not going to count in square footage or meters [how] this is the largest world that I’ve built, but what I mean by “everything sort of combined” is that the sense of scale is something that you’re going to feel as if it is the largest world that I’ve built. So the setting and obviously the giant robots that are placed are going to make that into like a reality.

Is Gen Atlas’ world mostly desert-like, or are there any other environmental biomes or even interiors that players can explore?

Ueda: Although we can’t reveal details, it won’t be just the desert-like sand only. There will be other biomes.

I meant to ask this earlier, but have you ever seen The Iron Giant? And if so, are you a fan? 

Ueda: Yes, I love it.

It’s a good movie. One of the things I enjoy about your previous games is the sense of loneliness that they have. There’s really no other sort of protagonist characters beyond the player and the partner character that they’re with. Is this game as lonely as those games? Are there any other sort of main or side characters that players will encounter? 

Ueda: I think this is really going to be up to the player; how they feel or how much to what degree they feel the loneliness. I’m building and drawing and sort of creating these characters, both the main character and the robot, but it’s not that I have this degree of loneliness that I’m aiming for, and then my hope is that the players will feel some level of kind of a feeling of loneliness. So yes, you can sort of link back to my past games, and there might be similarities in that sense.

How would you describe the progression mechanics, if there are any? Are you tinkering with or upgrading the robot head in any way?

Ueda: I can say that yes, there will be some tinkering and upgrading. 

So between the four games of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, and Gen Atlas and their respective companion characters –Yorda, Agro, Trico, and the robot head – which one would you want to hang out with the most? 

Ueda: Agro, and I’ve actually done some horse riding. And so just in real life I would, if Agro existed and it showed up, yeah, I would like to spend time on Agro. 

Is that a retirement plan? To get a horse and name it Agro?

Ueda: I don’t know about that. 

Give it time. At this stage of your career, what are some of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned from your previous games that you’re applying to Gen Atlas?

Ueda: Well first and foremost, as a game maker and game creator, you don’t know until you make it. So you can think all you want, but until there’s something to play and feel, you don’t know if you’re on the right path, and so in that sense it’s iteration. Everything is very iterative in what we do. I think for this one, because we’ve onboarded ourselves to Unreal, it has made that process maybe easier and more accessible, and we’re able to see how it works, relatively quickly, our ideas come to life. But that just basic idea of like, ‘Hey, I have a good idea, but we don’t know if it’s going to work until we make it’, has been with me from the very beginning. So it’s not necessarily a lesson that I’m trying to now reflect into Gen Atlas, but it has gotten much easier and more accessible for me to do.