Xbox started the year with two surprises. One very good, and one very sad. Hi-Fi Rush became the first essential of 2023 for an Xbox thirsty for bombings and with big plans for the immediate future. A month later, more or less, whoever put that same great game on the table for us decides to leave the studio that he himself founded: neither more nor less than Shinji Mikami.
Through an internal communication (verified by True Achievements) the Todd Vaughnsenior vice president at Bethesda, announced the departure of the legendary Mikami from Tango Gameworkssetting a very high bar throughout these almost 13 years in charge of it with games like the two installments of Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo and, of course, setting the flag quite high with Hi Fi Rush.
Mikami’s story does not begin in tango, far from it. He was the architect of the phenomenon started with the first Resident Evil (for a whole generation, the best) and he even has a curious past at Capcom in which Disney is very present, adapting several of his series and movies to Nintendo systems.
Of course, he never lost his transgressive character or his perspective: he himself recognized that Mega Drive’s Aladdin was better than his, but he was also the only person capable of straightening out projects that Capcom did not know very well how to approach as resident Evil 2 or Resident Evil 4. Ultimately, he created the survival horror template that will be used for decades.
What does the departure of Shinji Mikami mean for Xbox
As we discussed, Shinji Mikami is leaving Tango Gameworks at a very, very sweet moment: Hi Fi Rush, a relatively minor project within its own trajectory, convinced critics and, above all, players, being one of the most successful Game Pass debuts. Little joke. To which must be addedu well received on PC via Steam or Epic.
All in all, the planned plans continue their course: Todd Vaughn himself assured that Tango Gameworks will continue working on the games Ghostwire: Tokyo (whose launch on Xbox should be soon to be announced) and Hi Fi Rush. Seeing the current deals with Nintendo and GeForce, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing some of these titles on new platforms.
Who will take the reins of Tango? Right now, according to the email sent internally, Bethesda -and, by extension, Xbox Game Studios- are considering who will sit in the chair that Mikami leaves empty, being a huge responsibility: it is the Japanese division of Xbox and a key piece facing his proposal within the genre of survival horror. Although, seen what has been seen, he is also addicted to musical hack and slash.
For Shinji Mikami’s part, well, we know he’s a restless mind. That after Capcom -and Clover- he dedicated himself to putting his stamp on productions that have not gone unnoticed both for their time at PlatinumGames and at the hands of Bethesda. But if there is something that we are clear about, it is that, no matter how many years pass, the creator of Resident Evil it always has a new revolution to offer.