It’s been announced via an internal company-wide email (thanks TrueAchievements) from Bethesda’s Senior Vice President, Todd Vaughn, that Shinji Mikami is planning to leave Tango Gameworks, the studio he founded in 2010.
Known for The Evil Within series, GhostWire Tokyo and the recent surprise hit Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks was acquired by Bethesda roughly six months after it was founded. Now, its founder and the man known for creating Resident Evil is leaving. Vaughn spoke highly of Mikami in the email.
“I am writing today to let you know that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months,” Vaughn said. “Mikami-san has been a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers at Tango for 12 years through his work on the Evil Within franchise, Ghostwire Tokyo, and of course, Hi-Fi Rush.”
Vaughn’s email reportedly also says that Hi-Fi Rush was “one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years,” and has “generated significant positive momentum for the business and Tango.”
The studio will reportedly continue to support Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush while Bethesda and Tango work together to decide on the future of the team.
We recently spoke to Hi-Fi Rush’s Director, John Johanas, about how Tango Gameworks managed to produce such a departure from their previous titles and surprise the world by releasing it the day it was announced. In it, Johanas describes the anxiety in pitching Mikami-san and his Bethesda bosses “the most un-Bethesda title imaginable” but says it was received well and had a lot of support from the team.
