Bad news for fans of critical hits ICO and SOTC – Sony has left the The Last Guardian trademark to become “dead” and “abandoned”.

PSLS has discovered that over on United States Patent and Trademark Office, the trademark for The Last Guardian is listed as “(ABANDONED)” with the “Live/Dead Indicator” stating that it’s “DEAD”. Trademarkia states “Abandonment Notice! On Monday, August 6, 2012, status on the THE LAST GUARDIAN trademark changed to ABANDONED – NO STATEMENT OF USE FILED.” as well as “Status Update! On Monday, August 6, 2012, status on the THE LAST GUARDIAN trademark changed to ABANDONED – NO STATEMENT OF USE FILED.”

What this means exactly is unclear – the game has gone through development turmoil seeing numerous delays and missing out E3 after E3, as well as suffering staff departures and Ueda becoming a freelancer. But Sony Santa Monica was brought in to try to fix a game-breaking problem and finally get it out this gen and Shuhei Yoshida has repeatedly stated that The Last Guardian is not dead. Whether the trademark being allowed to become dead is a sign that Sony have finally given up on the project or perhaps changed the name is unknown. PSLS has reached out to Sony for a comment and will update if they respond . Update: Sony has told us that they “don’t comment on rumors or speculation”.

Of course, this could possibly now mean that Microsoft could buy the game rights to Artemis Fowl and The Last Guardian and completely confuse people.

If you found out TLG was dead, how would you react? Share your sorrows in the comments below.