Founder and studio head Shinji Mikami to leave Tango Gameworks

Tango Gameworks' founder and CEO, Shinji Mikami, is set to leave the studio after more than 12 years with the developer.

[IRetrouk]

👀

[Mr Pumblechook]

That's disappointing that he's left as he is a genuine talent. When big companies buy out studios the staff are often offered golden handcuffs money to stay on for a set period of time so there isn't an immediate mass people drain (Sony did this when buying Bungie). He must've met the terms of his contract to leave of serving a minimum period of time and delivering a completed game.

Tango Gameworks was founded by Mikami, it was his baby, what could've made him leave it?

[IRetrouk]

I'm not sure, but maybe he wanted to go indie again?

[DarXyde]

It's sudden and I do wish him all the best. He's made some timeless classics. I think IRetrouk might be onto something. I don't want to feed speculation that he didn't like the work culture as a part of Microsoft Game Studios, but perhaps he just wants to do his own thing. It's really hard not to think the acquisition had something to do with it though: Tango was his baby....

I would really love to see him over at Bokeh, but doing his own thing is fine too.

[Bathyj]

Well in all honesty if I picked 10 games publishers I would like to work for, Microsoft would not make that list.

[LOGICWINS]

What happened is that he's 57 and likely wants to retire. I wish him the best as he accomplished everything he wanted to in the gaming space.

He left the studio in great hands with John Johanes (director of Hi-Fi Rush and Evil Within 2).

I remember when Toshihiro Nagoshi left RGG and there was a lot of "fake outrage". Meanwhile, Yakuza 7 was the most successful game in the franchise and Nagoshi didn't write or direct that game.

[DarXyde]

Bathyj,
The wild thing about that:

If you want creative freedom, definitely not Microsoft.

If you want job security... Also not Microsoft.

They certainly have the best ability to maintain talent, but as the richest, they're certainly more American and more cutthroat.

[Sonic1881]

"If you want creative freedom, definitely not Microsoft.

If you want job security... Also not Microsoft."

I have to agree with you on that

[-Foxtrot]

Kind of thought he’d have done Evil Within 3 as his final game

[Godmars290]

@DarXyde:
By all rights that, given recourses, they should be able to make games on a consistent basis.

There's certainly little evidence of that.

[Obscure_Observer]

@DarXyde

"If you want creative freedom, definitely not Microsoft."

I´ve been seen plenty of more creative freedom on Xbox since those new studios were acquired/created than I´ve been seen on Playstation 5.

Fable
Bleeding Edge
Grounded
Avowed
Redfall
Everwild
Pentiment

Also, those who wants to do sequels and upgrade their franchises from Indie and AA to full AAA, is getting their projects greenlit and granted with support and resources to do so as Ninja Theory with Hellblade 2 and Undead Labs with State of Decay 3. It´s also known that InXile is currently working on an ambitious new IP, AAA action RPG as Compulsion Games with Project Midnight.

So if you know for a FACT that Sony is allowing more freedom for it´s developers and doing better than Xbox is doing in this current generation, bring the facts as I did.

"If you want job security... Also not Microsoft."

Why?

"They certainly have the best ability to maintain talent, but as the richest, they're certainly more American and more cutthroat."

Is that right?

https://www.videogameschron...

https://www.theverge.com/20...

https://www.asianews.it/new...

[Lifexline]

He said in an interview a while ago that he wanted to retire soon that he had one more big game and two smaller games before he did so. Maybe he finally decided to retire just Google it for the interview.

[Elda]

Guessing he couldn't deal with working for the recent owners that are MS/XB.

[Orchard]

He sure waited a while, no? 3 years is the longest resignation window ever.

[IRetrouk]

Maybe he was paid a retainer fee? Like what sony did with bungies staff?

[derek]

@Orchard, he waited till his contract was up. Why would a talented creator like Shinji want to work for a bloated, creatively bankrupt company like Microsoft longterm. I suspect we will see more of this.

[Elda]

May have been that his contract is now up & didn't want any longer to work for the company that it's now owned by MS/XB. I wouldn't be surprised if more of this will be happening within Bethesda.

[ziggyzinfirion]

Orchard, 3 years isn't long to be honest, he probably wanted to finish both Hi-Fi Rush until release and his contract. He does not seem interested in continuing his career under Microsoft.

[blackblades]

People said the same thing on gematsu

[porkChop]

I mean if you look at his resume he moves around. 16 years at Capcom on different teams, 3 years at Platinum, and now 12 years at Tango Gameworks. Maybe he just wants to do something else? It's better than Ken Levine firing over 80% of Irrational and rebranding just because he wanted to work on smaller projects.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Plus Ken hasn't produced anything since BioShock Infinite

[Class_Viceroy]

3 companies in 30 years. Yeah he’s really on the move there whooooooa

[SierraGuy]

Sure... that's why.

[porkChop]

@Sierra

Do you have any knowledge showing otherwise? I mean back in 2020 he was already thinking about retiring, but he wanted to direct one more game before doing so.

[Sonic1881]

That confirms Evil Within franchise won't be the same without him

[porkChop]

There's no guarantee TEW 3 would have ever been the same. Ghostwire started development as TEW 3 and changed direction so much they had to turn it into a different game. That's an indication that they aren't interested in making a sequel like the first two.

[Obscure_Observer]

I´m assuming that you don´t even know what you´re talking about.

The original was the first and the last The Evil Within game direct by him.

The Evil Within 2 was directed by Hi-Fi Rush´s director, John Johanas.

It´s sad to see him leave, but Evil Within franchise will be on good/competent hands.

[Sonic1881]

Evil Within 2 actually did worse in sales old man 😂
I doubt we'll hear anything about a third entry anytime soon. The first game sold 4+ million copies. The second one sold almost four times less.

The first game was aimed at a niche audience. I think a lot of the casual players got burned by the somewhat rocky launch of the original. Also, both Kidman dlcs were essential to understand the story and not many players bought them, I can see why the sequel received less attention. I think that's why Tango decided to make it more "mainstream" both in gameplay, story and presentation. Shame it didn't meet the expectations. Without Shinji Mikami the franchise will get worse and won't be the same rather you like it or not.

[Obscure_Observer]

@Sonic1881

"Evil Within 2 actually did worse in sales and reviews old man"

Lol. And I say you´re full of sh!t. XD

https://www.metacritic.com/...
https://www.metacritic.com/...

"I doubt we'll hear anything about a third entry anytime soon."

We already hear it, genius.

https://n4g.com/news/253574...

"The first game sold 4+ million copies. The second one sold almost four times less."

Bring the source

"Without Shinji Mikami the franchise will get worse"

I doubt that. With all of Microsoft´s resources at their disposal, John Johanas and Tango Team will have everything they need to deliver a high quality AAA horror game.

[Sonic1881]

Lol, the games were in the 70 😂😂 it was mediocre at best and the sales were awful for the second game. If there is a third game the sales will be even worse since it will be on game pass 😂 Look up the source yourself for the sales. The second game did way worse😂

https://steamcommunity.com/...

https://www.vgchartz.com/ga...

[shinoff2183]

Obscure

I found this

https://www.vgchartz.com/ga...

Says about 1.05 million sold for evil within 2

I enjoyed it and would love a 3rd one myself.

[Obscure_Observer]

@Sonic1881

"The first game sold 4+ million copies. The second one sold almost four times less."

I knew you were lying. It´s not even 2x.

The Evil Within - 1.86 Million
The Evil Within 2 - 1.05 Million

https://www.vgchartz.com/ga...
https://www.vgchartz.com/ga...

Keep your FUD BS to yourself, you can´t fool me. We´re done here.

@shinoff2183

"I found this"

Thanks!

"I enjoyed it and would love a 3rd one myself."

Chances are we might get it, all easter eggs related to EW in Hi-Fi Rush points to a new Evil Within game.

Fingers crossed!

[Sonic1881]

@Obscure_Observer

You're making yourself look bad. The game didn't sell well anyway 😂😂😂
BTW I don't think that's the official sales from the first game. Interesting you call me a liar when you don't even know me OLD MAN that acts like a kid 😂😂

[Lightning77]

Because when someone leaves it's always MS fault some how. despite the fact they have creative freedom and operate semi independent. Even had say on Hi FI rush handling and shadow drop. They even had a Evil Within Easter Egg in the game. Pointing out the game is in the works right now.

Maybe, I don't know... He wants to retire? Let's be mature about it.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I guess he didn't want to deal with Microsoft imo because retirement these days varies from age to age I know Kojima is quite old as well and still makes games but I could be wrong.

[blackblades]

And they all still look young

[DarXyde]

Old?

Kojima is 59.

Hayao Miyazaki is old. Shigeru Miyamoto is old.

Koji has a way to go yet. Retirement is like 75 in Japan, and all of these gentlemen are workhorses who probably wouldn't retire then anyways.

Health willing, we've probably got at least another 20 years of Kojima in the tank, whether it's making games or movies, or writing books.

[LOGICWINS]

59?! Kojima certainly doesn't look 59 👀

[DarXyde]

LOGICWINS,

Yeah, he can totally pass for a 35 year old with salt and pepper. He's aging quite graciously.

Humble brag moment for me: I was 26 or 27 years ago when I got pulled over for speeding and they expected me to have a junior license.... With a full beard.

I think I'm on track to pull a Kojima. 🙂

Not so much now. I don't have hair anymore.

[Orchard]

Well that’s a shame - but he leaves behind a great studio after ~13 years, and a set of great IPs with Evil Within, Ghostwire and Hi-Fi Rush.

[Flakegriffin]

Sadly, with Microsofts track record, he left a great studio in the hands of a company that has no idea what to do with their other studios.

[northpaws]

@Stonehottruth

When you releases one good game every 12 months, of course there would be more concurrent players lol, Horizon is a old game for PS gamers, I finished in last April.

[zsquaresoff]

Possibly joining one of Sony studios???

[blackblades]

The guy is 60 from what I heard he looks so younger then that.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Damn. I hope I look like that at 60 lol

[TriniOutsider]

I saw this coming from a mile away.

[Anunnaki]

This is the sort of brain drain that happens when conglomerates gobble up smaller devs.

[Knushwood Butt]

I wonder how many people in Japan played Hi Fi Rush.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Maybe 2 to 20 ppl idk tho.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I guess he’s happy to see the studio support themselves…. Alotta legendary dev leads don’t leave a studio in this good of shape. Hats off to him for that

[darkrider]

The power of Microsoft. Not everybody wants to work for them. This is how they improved the studios they get....

[rakentaja]

He probably left because of the continent, not for one company or another owning the studio.

[darkrider]

Your opinion.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Or he just retired after over 30 years in the industry.

[MADGameR]

Who's surprised about that? NOBODY wants to work for MS they are TERRIBLE! Kudos to Shinji for getting out. The gaming industry is in dark times.

[FreeckyCake]

Atsushi Inaba once said it, Shinji enjoys being his own developer. After all, he's already one of his goals, to teach the new growing generation of developers at Tango. Hi-Fi Rush showed that his goal was finally fulfilled.

[Vengeance1138]

That's what happens when you realize you're owned by Microsoft and are forced to only churn out GP filler / fodder.

[gangsta_red]

He was definitely looking to leave way back in 2020

https://gameranx.com/update...

[SpacedDuck]

I wonder how much Microsoft pays a studio they have taken over to put their games on Gamepass?

You can't tell me 100,000 downloads of your game is as valuable as 100,000 purchases or even 80,000 purchases.

Long term I just don't see how studios can continue to not make insane profit from the sales other than making gaming even more cancer with micro transaction BS.

[gangsta_red]

You think developers take a pay cut or work off of commission because of game pass?

Devs get paid their rate they agreed on when theyre hired regardless of how much their game sells or doesn't sell.

Now in terms of bonuses, this I could see would be associated to sales and I would wonder if this is even a thing anymore with the economy being what it is.

[SpacedDuck]

WTF are you talking about? I never once said this model impacted people who work on the games.

I'm simply asking if a studio gets rewarded as much from 100,000 downloads vs 100,000 actual purchases.

[gangsta_red]

You asked how much MS pays a studio once they've taken it over. The studio's budget or pay doesn't decrease once they're under Microsoft's umbrella, if anything most of the studios purchased expressed how their budget increased.

"I'm simply asking if a studio gets rewarded as much from 100,000 downloads vs 100,000 actual purchases."

This would be related to my bonus comment and I would have to think that maybe there is a system in place to award bonuses based on downloads as well as sales....but then again it would also be related to where the economy currently is at.

[SpacedDuck]

Just because their budget was increased doesn't mean that they will make as much money.

If anything this model puts them at higher risk because these studios can be shuttered at any moment when Microsoft deems that their games aren't worth the investment where the games may have sold enough to fun them for years.

Just seems like a bad model for studios despite being amazing for gamers.

Look at all the high level talent that has left Microsoft's studios to go elsewhere.

You don't leave a kick ass project like Perfect Dark unless you are going elsewhere for better pay and treatment.

[gangsta_red]

"If anything this model puts them at higher risk because..."

A lot of the studios they purchased were already in trouble financially. And these were studios dependent on sales and not GP. If anything this model gives them freedom to work on what they want and not have to cater to triple A tropes in a sea of more recognized triple A titles.

You already see a lot of studios putting out less or no smaller titles because there's no room for this in today's market.

"...the games may have sold enough to fun them for years."

And there's no gaurantee that the game would have sold enough in the retail/digital space. How many high budget games have we seen where the publisher said they didn't hit their mark they expected. Square and Embracer are just a couple of recent examples.

"Look at all the high level talent that has left Microsoft's studios to go elsewhere"

I disagree, we've seen talent leave all other studios, this isn't uncommon in the industry. Just recently we saw a new studio created with ex Naughty Dog and Santa Monica studio employees. People leave all the time to explore other options or to start a new career path.

"Just seems like a bad model for studios despite being amazing for gamers."

It's been about five years now and I still see GP in a sort of infancy. For me personally, I'm not worried because as you said it's amazing for gamers.

[SpacedDuck]

What worries me about the model has been the quality of new games.

Infinite is awful
Gears is a shell of what it was popularity wise
Perfect Dark had to outsource to Crystal Dynamics despite The Initiative being touted as a monster studio
Rare hasn't done jack squat since Sea of Thieves which was like 6 or 7 years ago launched just new content
Fable is trapped in hell again

For Microsoft Forza is the only franchise that has continued to deliver quality and I see that changing as some key people left them recently too.

I just find for how much Microsoft is spending to acquire these studios the quality of the games has been very very low.

A few standout surprises sure like Hi-Fi Rush but they should be pumping out much better stuff than this.

I'm not a Playstation fanboy by any means as I own all consoles but they have had quality hits with God of War, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spiderman and Horizon.

When you stack that up vs the latest Gears and Halo level games it's not even close on the level of quality and passion from the studios at Microsoft.

That's why as a gamer I'm worried about this model as what good is endless Gamepass stuff when it's mediocre?

[gangsta_red]

I think you may be believing the hate train, echo chamber found here on N4G. GP would have no effect on production. Especially when the problems you've stated have been found in many other games outside of GP?
Cyberpunk is a good example of an unfinished, over hyped game that was released outside of GP. Callisto Protocol is a recent other.

Game Pass is only a sub service for renting games. Not a production benchmark of what a game needs to be like in terms of quality.

Gears 5 was a great game and holds an 84 on metacritic and was made before GP.
Halo Infinite single player was fantastic and also holds an 86 metacritic. Say what you want about the mp, but that has nothing to do with GP.
Perfect Dark, a lot of games gets outsourced and it's obvious that the studio created to make the game wasn't up and running quick enough to start production, again nothing to do with GP.
Rare has been supporting SoT and have turned that game into one of the most played games on Xbox, and they have just recently started a new game.
Fable is surrounded by rumors. It's only been three years, game development takes at least four to five. I'd rather they show a complete game than pieces of something that is still a ways away.

There have been a lot more hits then misses from MS on GP, Pyschonauts 2, Outerworlds, Grounded, Pentiment, Wasteland 3 and other games from MS have all scored high and released for GP.

"...quality hits with God of War, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spiderman and Horizon."

In all honesty those are pretty much copy and pastes of one another. Excluding maybe Spider Man which is a copy and paste of Batman. Pretty easy script Sony has and it works very well, where as the games you mentioned from MS are all different and variety with a lot more gameplay options than just single player only. I personally found the games you mentioned above from Sony boring and over hyped. They looked good no doubt, but that's about it.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Sounds like a retirement.

[StarkR3ality]

That's a shame, hopefully it's just a personal choice and not poor health or family issues which can sometimes happen.

All the best Mikami-San!

[jznrpg]

MS ownership of studios will cause this to happen at many other studios after their contract bonuses are up .
I’d bet on it !

[monkey602]

This is going to happen to many of the big studios that are being acquired from any of the big platforms. I've been expecting this for a while. It will hopefully lead to more new studios and some fresh ideas in the medium.

[Chocoburger]

Can't say I'm surprised. I expected this to happen, was never a question of if, but rather when.

Mikami wants to release games on systems popular in Japan, and that's Nintendo and Sony. Definitely doesn't want to spend 5+ years of his life making Xbox & PC exclusives that many from his fan base can't play.

[wolf581]

Thats happens when you buy out studios and ips...in the end you will just have ripped ips ...exactly what happened to all rare ips like conker,banjo ,perfect dark etc...exactly what happened with halo and exactly what happened with gow thats nowhere near to a AAA title....sony is not fool that mainly invest to build studios for years now....

[Binarycode]

and?

[Fearmonkey]

i absolutely love ghostwire tokyo...hoped for another.