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Fumito Ueda

Fumito Ueda's studio genDESIGN is developing gen ATLAS, an open-world action-adventure for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store. No release date or price has been announced. Ueda has since appeared in public talks discussing his design methods alongside Eric Chahi and Goichi Suda.

Synthesized from 5 Yomimono stories · updated 2d ago

genDESIGN announced gen ATLAS during the Summer Game Fest 2026 livestream on June 6, with Epic Games publishing. The open-world action-adventure is set on a forsaken planet where players awaken without knowing why, among massive structures, abandoned facilities, and a changing sea. A giant robot whose power opens paths to previously unreachable areas appears in the trailer, along with robot-versus-robot battles and small combatants running across the giant machines to find weak points. The game is in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store. A teaser had appeared as a work-in-progress at The Game Awards 2024 under the working title Project Robot.

A week later, in an interview at Summer Game Fest Play Days 2026, Ueda said the player character is a machine, not a human, and that the game is set after humanity's disappearance in a mechanical civilization. He confirmed the project began with the idea of making a game about giant robots and explained the title's meaning. The announcement and the interview together establish the setting, the protagonist, and the platforms, and they leave the release date and price unset.

Coverage then moved away from the game itself. Ueda appeared in a two-hour conversation with Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda at a Japanese pub on a rainy spring evening, published by Automaton, where he noted Suda's skill at adjusting sensory details like frame timing and enemy placement. In September, Ueda and Eric Chahi spoke at The Tenth Mosaic at the Institut francais du Japon in Tokyo, on the second day of a two-day event held September 22 and 23, 2026. Ueda said he first played the Super Famicom version of Another World at a friend's house during his university years, and he acknowledged that the shadows in Heart of Darkness informed his work. Chahi said he played ICO around 2000 after being recommended it following work on Heart of Darkness, and he asked whether the bond between Ico and Yorda drew from the relationship between Lester and the alien in Another World. Both described their words-free style as something they had no choice but to do.

Key facts

Current project
gen ATLAS, an open-world action-adventure from genDESIGN ↗
Platforms
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store ↗
Publisher
Epic Games ↗
Release date and price
Not announced ↗
Working title
Project Robot, shown as a work-in-progress at The Game Awards 2024 ↗
Protagonist
A machine, not a human, set in a mechanical civilization after humanity's disappearance ↗
Project origin
Began with the idea of making a game about giant robots ↗
Tokyo talk
Spoke with Eric Chahi on the second day of The Tenth Mosaic at the Institut francais du Japon, September 22 and 23, 2026 ↗
Stated influence
Ueda said he first played the Super Famicom version of Another World at a friend's house during his university years ↗
Suda conversation
Two-hour conversation with Goichi Suda at a Japanese pub, published by Automaton ↗

Timeline

Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every fact links the story it came from.

Facts

Noted
known for ICO and Shadow of the Colossus · 2026-10-09
Noted
Ueda noted Suda's skill at adjusting sensory details like frame timing and enemy placement. · 2026-07-03

Connections

Directs
gen atlas
Staff change of
gendesign

Structured graph also available as JSON at /public/entities/fumito-ueda. CC BY 4.0.

All coverage

2d ago

Eric Chahi Returns To Japan With The Another World Materials He Kept

Eric Chahi, creator of Another World, visited Japan for the first time in 13 years for The Tenth Mosaic, a game culture festival organized by Alcypel, held at the Institut francais de Tokyo. He brought production materials from the game: pixel art on graph paper, the cover drawing, handwritten notebooks of code, and the equipment used for rotoscope filming. Another World released in 1991 for the Amiga 500 and Atari ST, and in Japan in 1992 for the Super Famicom as Outer World.

Oct 13

Ueda And Chahi Discuss A Words-Free Approach To Game Worlds At Tokyo Talk

At The Tenth Mosaic, held at the Institut francais de Tokyo on September 22 and 23, Eric Chahi and Fumito Ueda spoke on September 23. Ueda said he first played the Super Famicom version of Chahi's Another World as a university student and cleared it with a friend's help, taking from it the idea that it is okay to make a world for the world's sake rather than a world for the game. Chahi said a colleague urged him to play ICO after Heart of Darkness. Both described their words-free style as something they had no choice but to do.

Oct 9

Eric Chahi And Fumito Ueda Discuss Game Design At The Tenth Mosaic

Eric Chahi, known for Another World and Heart of Darkness, and Fumito Ueda, known for ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian, held a talk session at The Tenth Mosaic at the Institut francais du Japon in Tokyo. The two-day event ran September 22 and 23, 2026, and the conversation took place on the second day. Ueda said he first played the Super Famicom version of Another World at a friend's house during his university years. Chahi said he played ICO around 2000 after being recommended it following work on Heart of Darkness. The two traded questions about influence, with Ueda acknowledging that the shadows in Heart of Darkness informed his work and Chahi asking whether the bond between Ico and Yorda drew from the relationship between Lester and the alien in Another World. The talk also covered technical constraints, testing games as a player rather than a designer, and the use of gesture in place of dialogue.

Jul 3

Fumito Ueda and Goichi Suda Discuss Craft Over Rainy Day Drinks

Automaton published a two-hour conversation between Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda and game designer Fumito Ueda, held at a Japanese pub on a rainy spring evening. Suda discussed his hands-on QA work on the new IP ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN, including last-minute bug fixes and tuning that frustrated his team. Ueda noted Suda's skill at adjusting sensory details like frame timing and enemy placement.

Jun 12

Fumito Ueda Confirms 'gen ATLAS' Protagonist Is a Machine, Not Human

In an interview at Summer Game Fest Play Days 2026, Fumito Ueda revealed that the player character in genDESIGN's upcoming title 'gen ATLAS' is a machine, not a human. The game is set after humanity's disappearance in a mechanical civilization. Ueda also explained the title's meaning and confirmed the project began with the idea of making a game about giant robots.

Jun 5

Fumito Ueda's genDESIGN Announces Open-World Robot Game gen ATLAS

Fumito Ueda's studio genDESIGN officially announced its next title, gen ATLAS, during the Summer Game Fest 2026 livestream on June 6. The game is an open-world action-adventure set on a forsaken planet where players awaken without knowing why. The world is dotted with massive structures, abandoned facilities, and a changing sea, all traces of a lost civilization. Players encounter a giant robot whose power opens paths to previously unreachable areas. The trailer showed robot-versus-robot battles and small combatants running across the giant machines to find weak points, a mechanic that multiple sources compared to Shadow of the Colossus. gen ATLAS is in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store, with Epic Games handling publishing. A teaser had appeared as a work-in-progress at The Game Awards 2024 under the working title Project Robot. No release date or price has been announced.