Word is quickly spreading that Kenji Kaido has left Sony. Wired reports that Kaido announced his departure from the company on his Twitter account. “I have some news. This August, I left Sony Computer Entertainment. My plans for the future are undecided as of now, but for the time being I’m going to continue my summer vacation,” his Tweet says (in translation).

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Kaido’s departure from Sony marks the third major player involved with Team ICO’s game development projects that has left the company in the last year. Yoshifusa Hayama, Team ICO’s executive producer, left Sony in December of last year . Fumito Ueda, Team ICO’s creative director, followed suit shortly thereafter.The departure of both Hayama and Ueda from Team ICO certainly created a drain on a developer that hasn’t yet put a game out during this generation. Indeed, Team ICO’s last game – Shadow of the Colossus – was released on PlayStation 2 in 2005. However, for a game already widely acknowledged to be in development hell, Kaido’s departure could mean further trouble for Team ICO, though it’s not clear whether or not he was involved in any capacity with Team ICO’s in-limbo PS3 exclusive. Sony has promised repeatedly -- most recently at Gamescom -- that The Last Guardian is still in development some seven years after the team's last project came to market.Kenji Kaido’s career began with Taito in 1987. After coming to Sony a decade later, Kaido helped Sony produce and release Tomba!, Tomba! 2, and Ape Escape. ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were the last projects he was confirmed to be associated with.We’ve reached out to Sony for comment, confirmation and clarification, and will update when we hear back.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.