AWOL PlayStation exclusive The Last Guardian didn't turn up during Sony's Gamescom press conference this week. Were we expecting it? Perhaps not.

But we had hoped for the Team Ico title to perhaps show up at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2014.

Alas, it doesn't sound like it'll be there, either.

"Will we see it at Tokyo Game Show?" we asked Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida in an interview today.

"I don't think so," was his response. "Sorry."

When will we see it?

"When we are ready. I cannot confirm any timing because we are waiting for it to be in a state where we are happy that this is the game. We have a certain time frame in our mind, and the team is making great progress, but still not to the point that we can say that, here you go."

The catweagle returns. Well, not just yet.

Yoshida, and other Sony Computer Entertainment executives, are often asked about the status of The Last Guardian, which was announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive five years ago. We last asked Yoshida about The Last Guardian at E3 in June, where it also failed to turn up.

Sony has since insisted the game is still in development. So, what's taking so long?

"The technical issues on PS3 and the way it was engineered didn't work," Yoshida said, echoing comments he's made before. "It worked to some extent, that's why we had a date in mind."

That last comment is a reference to Sony's 2010 announcement of a late 2011 release date for the game.

"That was a mistake," Yoshida admitted, "but at one time it was looking possible. It has been totally re-engineered. They're still working on it. I've been seeing the progress."

Is The Last Guardian now a PlayStation 4 game? It seems inevitable that it is, but Sony isn't saying. The long wait continues.