The Last Guardian abandoned?

[UPDATE:] Sony has reclaimed the trademark for The Last Guardian as of August 9, and the company has issued statements that the game is still under development. The original story continues below.

Sony has abandoned its trademark for The Last Guardian more than three years after it first applied for the rights to the name. The company let go of the trademark on August 6 (via PlayStationLifeStyle), and as of press time, Sony had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.

In June, Sony senior vice president of product development Scott Rohde offered an update on The Last Guardian, saying it will ship "when it is absolutely ready." He also said Sony has no deadline whatsoever for the game.

"It would be very easy to ship a game when it's not quite ready because we need to meet a business plan," Rohde said at the time. "Gamers are first. And the experience that we provide is first. And that's why we're going to talk about that game when we're ready to talk about it."

While the trademark for The Last Guardian has been abandoned, that doesn't necessarily mean the game is canceled. Earlier this year, Ubisoft abandoned its trademark for Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, a World War II-set shooter in development at Gearbox Software. A Gearbox representative confirmed that Ubisoft had dropped the trademark to avoid administrative confusion, and it was later revealed that the game would be delayed out of 2012.

Formally announced at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, The Last Guardian tells a boy-and-his-dog tale, where the dog is a giant and feathered, yet seemingly amiable, beast. Team Ico has not been forthcoming with specific plot details, but gameplay will involve the boy working with his companion to navigate a variety of environmental puzzles.