Shinji Mikami, famed Japanese recreation designer finest identified for his work on the Resident Evil sequence, has determined to go away Tango Gameworks after founding the studio over 10 years in the past, in keeping with a TrueAchievements report that was corroborated by Bethesda on Twitter.
Mikami’s profession spans a wide range of video games and genres
Mikami is a legendary recreation designer at this level, an outdated head within the trade who’s been round because the ‘90s the place he began at Capcom. Whereas his first huge recreation as a designer on the Japanese studio was the 1993 action-adventure recreation Goof Troop for the SNES, he leveled up and directed the journey horror traditional Resident Evil in 1996. This recreation wound up doing gangbusters numbers for Capcom, catapulting Mikami to stardom and solidifying Resident Evil because the tentpole horror franchise we all know right now. He’s since labored on quite a lot of Resident Evil video games all through his Capcom tenure as both an advisor, director, producer, or author whereas slicing his tooth on different storied tasks. This contains the survival horror sequence Dino Disaster, the 2000 hack-and-slash action-adventure recreation Onimusha: Warlords (a favourite of mine), the 2001 action-adventure recreation Satan Could Cry (one other fave of mine), the 2003 side-scrolling beat-’em-up Viewtiful Joe (yet one more fave of mine), and so many extra. He’s additionally served as an government producer for a handful of Phoenix Wright video games. This man’s resume is lengthy, yall.
And now, the storied recreation developer is beginning a brand new chapter in that resume. In a company-wide ZeniMax electronic mail seen by TrueAchievements, Bethesda’s senior vp of improvement, Todd Vaughn, delivered the information of Mikami’s departure. Although unclear when he’s leaving, Vaughn mentioned Mikami plans to dip out of Tango Gameworks “within the coming months.”
“I’m writing right now to let you realize that studio head Shinji Mikami has determined to go away Tango Gameworks within the coming months,” Vaughn mentioned. “Mikami-san has been a artistic chief and supportive mentor to younger builders at Tango for 12 years by way of his work on The Evil Inside franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and naturally, Hello-Fi Rush.”
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Bethesda then confirmed the information right now on Twitter, thanking Mikami for his work and saying it’s enthusiastic about Tango Gameworks’ future.
“We will verify that Shinji Mikami has determined to go away Tango Gameworks within the coming months,” the assertion reads. “We thank him for this work as a artistic chief and supportive mentor to younger builders on The Evil Inside franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and, after all, Hello-Fi Rush. We want Mikami-san nicely sooner or later and are excited by what lies forward for the gifted builders at Tango.”
Kotaku reached out to Bethesda and Tango Gameworks for remark.
Mikami elevated the lesser-known with Tango Gameworks
After spending about 20 years at Capcom, Mikami labored with PlatinumGames to launch the 2010 third-person shooter Vanquish. In the identical 12 months, he based Tango Gameworks, which was nearly instantly acquired by Bethesda Softworks’ mum or dad firm ZeniMax Media. 4 years later, in 2014, Mikami returned to his scary roots to direct the survival horror recreation The Evil Inside. It garnered a fairly optimistic reception, resulting in a sequel in 2017. It was throughout this recreation’s improvement that Mikami began to take a backseat, opting to function a producer whereas supervising the sport’s progress. Tango would go on to launch the 2022 open-world action-adventure recreation Ghostwire: Tokyo and this 12 months’s rhythm-based motion recreation Hello-Fi Rush, each of which might be Mikami’s final tasks because the studio’s government producer. He’s leaving on a excessive be aware.
Mikami leaving Tango Gameworks is a bummer. He’s labored on so many various video games, proving his creativity is aware of no bounds. He additionally helped propel the careers of others by way of Tango Gameworks, most notably Ikumi Nakamura, an artist who labored on The Evil Inside and Okami earlier than getting into the artistic director function for Ghostwire: Tokyo. On the studio’s official web site, Mikami mentioned he “need[ed] to create a spot for younger creators to problem themselves,” pointing to the “many gifted creators in Japan” that don’t have entry to the identical alternatives. This can be a man who used his energy to raise the obscure and unknown, one thing you don’t see too usually anymore.
Whereas Mikami mentioned in December 2020 he might direct one final recreation, it’s unclear what’s subsequent for the famed Japanese recreation designer now. However right here’s hoping Mikami stays within the video games trade to proceed the work he sought out to do at Tango Gameworks, that of elevating lesser-known creatives to diversify the kinds of video games we see on the earth.
