Shinji Mikami leaves Tango Gameworks

Bethesda has confirmed that Tango Gameworks studio head Shinji Mikami will officially leave the company. After 12 years at the studio he helped found, Mikami is leaving it at the end of the year. News of Mikami’s departure initially came from an email sent to ZeniMax employees (via True achievement) from Bethesda senior president Todd Vaughn, which thanked the veteran designer for his work at the studio.

Vaughn wrote: “I am writing today to inform you that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months. “Mikami-san has been a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers at Tango for 12 years through his work on the Evil Inside franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo and, of course, , Hi-Fi Rush.”

Bethesda has confirmed the news on Twitter, and added that it wished Mikami success in future endeavors. Mikami leaves behind a solid amount of work at Tango Gameworks, as the studio has been developing hit classic games since its founding more than a decade ago. The Evil Inside, The Evil Inside 2 and Ghostwire: Tokyo were all well received, while the unexpectedly discounted Hi-Fi Rush received critical acclaim.

Mikami herself has had a long and illustrious career outside of Tango Gameworks, with hit classics like Vanquish, Shadows of the Damned, as well as legendary. Evil 4. Back in 2020, Mikami also talked about how he looks forward to directing one more game before retiring from the game industry, as he still has a lot of ideas to bring to life. Mikami said to Diversity Later.

In a similar move, Silent Hill’s director, Keiichiro Toyama, left Sony to form Bokeh game studio back in 2020. Starring Kazunobu Sato and Junya Okura, who worked on The Last Guardian and Gravity Rush, respectively, The studio’s debut game is Slitterhead. A survival horror game with some very scary visuals, the title’s first gameplay debuted at The Game Awards 2021.