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Shinji Mikami to Leave Tango Gameworks in the Coming Months

Shinji Mikami to Leave Tango Gameworks in the Coming Months - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 23 February 2023 / 2,846 Views

Bethesda announced Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami will be leaving the studio in the "coming months."

"We can confirm that Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months. We thank him for his work as a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers on The Evil Within franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and, of course, Hi-Fi Rush.

"We wish Mikami-san well in the future and are excited by what lies ahead for the talented developers at Tango."

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in his own statement via Twitter stated, "Thank you Mikami-san for your leadership and your great contributions to the industry. Your guidance and input over the last 2 years has been valuable to me. Looking forward to our continued friendship and looking forward to what lies ahead for Tango Gameworks."

Mikami is best known for creating the Resident Evil series during his 16 years at Capcom and founded Tango Gameworks in March 2010, which was acquired by Bethesda Softworks parent company Zenimax Media later the same year.

He would direct the horror game, The Evil Within, at Tango Gameworks and was an executive director on The Evil Within 2Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush.

Bethesda Softworks Senior Vice President Todd Vaughn in an email sent to the company and posted by TrueAchievements stated Hi-Fi Rush was "one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years" and it "generated significant positive momentum for the business and Tango."


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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16 Comments
G2ThaUNiT (on 23 February 2023)

I was wondering how long he would stick around since the last game he directed was in 2014. He's clearly used the time since to nurture talented creative leads at Tango and I hope he's off to retirement after a beyond legendary career.

He's leaving Tango in talented hands. I wish him all the best!

  • +11
trunkswd G2ThaUNiT (on 23 February 2023)

It looks like he was worried the studio would get shut down while under Bethesda if he left, but now that they are owned by Microsoft he is more confident in the future success of the studio. Especially following how well Hi-Fi Rush did.

  • +9
ClassicGamingWizzz trunkswd (on 23 February 2023)

I saw like 5 news articles about this story, even yours and in none of them there is a statement made by him, its not even him releasing the news , its bethesda . Where did you saw him saying that or even hinting at that. I am so curious about this fear of him of his company to be shut down by bethesda.

  • -7
Blood_Tears ClassicGamingWizzz (on 23 February 2023)

It all comes from Imran Khan on Twitter. Sites are just regurgitating it but he's the main "source" just from a Tweet. He was also the same one and ONLY one who said that Sony was looking to get Starfield timed exclusive back in 2020. Other sites also regurgitating that rumor until it was passed around so much that it was believed to be true even though he was the only one saying it with no sources or any other corroboration. Any other site that posted that always sourced back to his tweet about it just like this time. Since then he's been let go by company after company. So yeah when this "journalist" says something on Twitter it's not always fact. He just gave his opinion but because it's on Twitter it will get spun around for clicks with little question to it. Imran Khan is basically a trust me bro cliché at this point.

  • -3
ClassicGamingWizzz Blood_Tears (on 24 February 2023)

" My understanding is that Mikami was always hesitant to leave Tango because he thought the studio would get shut down without him as a buffer. I guess now he’s more confident in it within the larger Microsoft portfolio."

Lmao

But we are the ones that got downvoted 😆

  • -3
KratosLives (on 25 February 2023)

He needs to return to horror

  • 0
LivncA_Dis3 (on 23 February 2023)

Comeback to Capcom and make your Magnum opus,

Dino crisis remake

  • 0
Ka-pi96 LivncA_Dis3 (on 25 February 2023)

A Dino Crisis remake would be awesome! Would love to see it happen.

  • +1
No_Name_Needed (on 23 February 2023)

I am a big fan of Shinji Mikami's work, but for whatever reason I don't feel surprised by this. I do hope he isn't retiring and he's just going somewhere else. Who knows, maybe he is going back to Capcom.

  • 0
DonFerrari (on 23 February 2023)

I like a lot of his games, so I hope Sony make a new studio with him on the lead.

  • -7
Blood_Tears (on 23 February 2023)
  • -17
tslog (on 23 February 2023)
  • -20