TITLE
Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history
AUTHOR
Matt Leone
PUBLICATION
Design Room
YEAR
2025
ARTICLE TYPE
Interview
FROM THE ARTICLE
Sitting down for an early 2000s internal Sony pitch presentation, Shawn Layden noticed something unusual. He was watching a concept video for the next project from the team behind cult-favorite adventure game Ico, and he thought the music sounded familiar.[…]
“Later on, we found out that was actually the theme music to the original Spider-Man movie,” says Layden, referencing Sam Raimi’s 2002 film. The music was placeholder — meant to get the tone across for the pitch, but not to be released to the public (though a fan has since recreated it). “We probably violated some usage rights,” says Layden. “But, hey, it was 20 years ago, no harm done, and Sony owns the Spider-Man stuff anyway.”
It’s the kind of development anecdote that, for most games, wouldn’t be particularly notable. It’s not uncommon for teams to use unlicensed songs or assets for internal pitches, and the track never made it into the final game.
But Shadow of the Colossus isn’t most games. Over those 20 years, it’s developed a reputation as a minimalist, poignant experience. The kind of game that feels unaffected by pop culture. To some, it’s the best example to date of a game that should be considered art. Which makes for an unlikely connection to something as colorful and mainstream as Spider-Man — or at least, that’s how many fans see it.
Looking back on the game ahead of its 20th anniversary, we recently spoke to 14 people connected to it to get a better sense of how it came about, the challenges the team ran into, and the differences between what players perceive and what happens behind the scenes.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Japan Studio
Sony
GAMES MENTIONED
Battlefield 1942
Ico
The Last Guardian
Shadow of the Colossus
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Kelly Bollinger
John Hight
Kenji Kaido
Yasuhide Kobayashi
Alison Lau
Shawn Layden
Kow Otani
Imogen Baker Othman
Johan Persson
Jeff Reese
Kyle Shubel
Fumito Ueda
Mark Valledor
Shuhei Yoshida
TOPICS MENTIONED
Business
ALTERNATE LINK
Archived Copy @ Internet Archive