[Automaton] Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami explains why he left Tango Gameworks and founded Kamuy

[--R]

Resident Evil director and Hi-Fi Rush producer Shinji Mikami recently commented on his departure from Tango Gameworks and the establishment of his new company Kamuy. Mikami founded Tango Gameworks in 2010 and left it last year, after having been involved in the development of titles such as The Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush.

The influential creator recently made a guest appearance on a talk show hosted by Byking, during which he was asked about what led him to leave Tango Gameworks. Mikami responded by clarifying his status within his former company, commenting, "I had only been CEO for 6 months. I think a lot of people were under the impression that I was the representative, but I was very close to a rank-and-file employee. I had "___ producer" attached to my name, but I wasn't an executive or anything of the sort."

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The same year it was founded, Tango Gameworks encountered financial difficulties and was acquired by ZeniMax Media. This acquisition changed the status of the company, as Mikami comments, "Tango Gameworks is not the name of a company, it's the name of a department. The name of the company is ZeniMax Asia K.K." The creator had apparently gone through negotiations to keep the name "Tango Gameworks" and ultimately received permission to preserve it in the form of a brand.

Mikami further reveals that he had planned to leave Tango Gameworks for 8 years before finally doing so, but that the responsibility he felt towards ongoing projects prolonged his stay. As his main motivations for leaving, he mentions wanting to create an environment that would allow young game creators to have more frequent opportunities to gain experience, i.e. an environment with shorter cycles between new projects. At the same time, he felt that there was an audience out there for unique, smaller-scale video games, which led him to see an opportunity to link these two factors.

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The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game genre that he has come to be associated with. As existing companies have established styles and workflows, he decided to set up a company from zero to accomplish everything he's set out to do. This is how the new company Kamuy came to be established.

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Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami explains why he left Tango Gameworks and founded Kamuy - AUTOMATON WEST

Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami recently commented on his departure from Tango Gameworks and the establishment of his new company Kamuy.

automaton-media.com

 

[nsilvias]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

 

[Noctis]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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The same could be said about Kojima but he's coming back to stealth for perhaps the final time. It sucks as a creator to be forced to be stuck to one particular genre due to a segment of fans.

 

[Bizkit Krueger]

I'm here for whatever kamuy and mikami do

man has an incredible track record both as director and when it comes to fostering new talent

 

[Xshade90]

I wonder what kind of game will he do next if he don't want to be associated with survival horror anymore. Hope it's a smaller scale project that will be able to put his studio on the map!

 

[joyboy]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

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Love this

 

[Arn]

I can't imagine how creatively and emotionally limiting it is to work on the same thing for four, five, six years without seeing it in player's hands. That desire to make smaller projects with quicker turnarounds that really rely on creativity to make those projects work must be extremely enticing for lots of developers beyond Mikami. I do think there's an opportunity for major publishers to embrace this and build these projects into studio schedules and people development, particularly with recent critical successes with the likes of Pentiment or Hi-Fi Rush.

 

[AmAsuT]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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The thing I don't get is Tango's last two games weren't Survival Horrors so there definitely was an opportunity for him to make something else. I guess maybe he felt something like Kojima Productions; with his name at the top, would help more with this image change.

 

[mrmickfran]

Let Mikami cook whatever he wants

I'll be there with a plate day 1

 

[kakteen]

Eventhough I didn't play it, but if he was involved in hi-fi rush then let's go shinji.

 

[GulfCoastZilla]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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This, this this
Let him do what he wants, it will mean a better product.

 

[Messofanego]

Acquisitions suck. Doesn't stop you from making a good piece of media. People only seem to do them out of survival. The financial security can help you focus on creating.

 

[Raigor]

Acquisitions suck. Doesn't stop you from making a good piece of media. People only seem to do them out of survival. The financial security can help you focus on creating.

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Getting acquired is the only source of survival for dozen of studios in today's market, we can all agree on acquisitions being bad but you are either getting acquired or you'll die.

 

[Korigama]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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Given that God Hand and Vanquish are two of my personal favorites from him, I look forward to seeing him get to make more of what he wants to make.

 

[Max|Payne]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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This is why I was happy FromSoft took a break from Souls type games at least once to make AC6.

I hope Naughty Dog's next IP is a sharp turn away from the seriousness and violence of their latest titles.

 

[Mr Evil 37]

Eventhough I didn't play it, but if he was involved in hi-fi rush then let's go shinji.

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He was Exec Producer but John Johanas was the lead.

 

[Strafer]

It was the same with Kojima, stuck with MGS until Death Stranding.

 

[Bard]

Yes Mikami, please make a game like God Hand again. You can leave survival horror behind, I don't mind.

 

[FakePlasticTree]

There are still so few survival horror games and I imagine that's the reason so many fans want Mikami to make a new one. Resident Evil is generally the only one out there still going.

At the same time when creators get to work on a thing they are passionate about usually means we'll get a better game out of it. Mikami was very enthusiastic about God Hand and really wanted to see it ported and I hope he can make something like that again.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I remember him saying years ago that he doesn't want to be the survival horror guy but ended up making evil within anyways, probably the only way to get the publisher to agree

 

[Thalanil]

When famous devs leave their studios people on social media and forums often go "I'm sure there is some secret drama behind the scenes/ he must have gotten fired/ he must be fighting with the publisher" but oftentimes like in this case it can just be a case of wanting to do something new/different or getting a cool offer they can't pass out on.

 

[Plague-Doctor]

I remember him saying years ago that he doesn't want to be the survival horror guy but ended up making evil within anyways, probably the only way to get the publisher to agree

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Kojima said he was done with Metal Gear like 5 times. Must be enormous external pressure when you basically create your own genre and it takes off. Pretty sure Miyazaki said something along the lines of being tired of making souls games too.

Either way Mikami is one of the creatives in the industry who will get my money whenever his next game is ready

 

[Devil]

Every reason he mentions for founding, staying and then leaving Tango sounds absolutely legit, thoughtful, professional and yet like he still has the drive to be creative and create opportunities for young developers.

Or as the kids would say, based. Probably. Ok, I'm old.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

I want to see him tackle something other than Horror too.

 

[jett]

It's time for Aladdin 2

 

[Tribes of Trusty]

>The second reason Mikami mentions is his personal wish to break free from the survival horror game

people aint gonna be happy bout this. fuck those people tho. too many creators are stuck trying to make the same shit again cause there fans or the market/buisness forces

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This. Kojima broke free from the Metal Gear bagage and went to create Death Stranding with his studio which is one of the best (if not polarizing) game ever made. I'm ready for whatever Mikami wants to do next.

 

[SlasherMcGirk]

Let Mikiami do whatever he wants. When he was free to do whatever he wanted we got God Hand. Let him cook.

 

[plagiarize]

I love Mikami's work in horror above his other work, and even I want this for him.

Let creatives pursue what they're passionate about *currently*. Don't leash them to what they were successful at in the past.