![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later.jpg\")
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It took more than 10 years, but Shinji Mikami says his original vision for Tango Gameworks is finally coming to life.<\/p>\n
Mikami established Tango in 2010\u00a0after nearly two decades at Capcom, directing games like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4, and a few years contracting for Platinum Games, where he directed Vanquish. His vision: give younger developers a chance to direct their own games and provide opportunities they might not get at other companies. Or, more bluntly, as he told Polygon<\/i> in 2014<\/a>, let people under 40 direct games.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re over 40, you\u2019re somewhat out of touch with the people buying your games,\u201d Mikami told the outlet, \u201cand when you\u2019re young, you don\u2019t know enough about the industry. When you\u2019re in your 30s, you have the right balance \u2013 you\u2019re energetic and have your ego and can focus without distractions, but you have enough experience to manage people and know the business.\u201d<\/p>\n Charitably, it actually took seven years for Mikami\u2019s vision to become real, marked by the release of The Evil Within 2 in 2017, directed by John Johanas. More cynically, and if you\u2019re Mikami himself \u2013 now 56 \u2013 it took 12 years. Nevertheless, as he sees it, Tango\u2019s here now. And its latest game, Ghostwire: Tokyo<\/a>, is a line in the sand.<\/p>\n Early in Tango\u2019s history, Mikami gave many interviews about his vision. But at the time, it was just that: a vision. Somewhat speculative and certainly unproven. However, in the run-up to Ghostwire\u2019s release, and with the advantage of 12 years of hindsight, we decided to revisit Tango\u2019s mission statement. Talking to three higher-ups within the company \u2013 Mikami, producer Masato Kimura, and Ghostwire director Kinji Kimura \u2013 we learned how Tango finally got here and what it plans to do next.<\/p>\n As noble as his intentions may have been when founding Tango, Mikami directed the studio\u2019s debut project, the survival horror game The Evil Within, released in 2014.<\/p>\n Mikami will be the first to tell you he still likes directing games. But he\u2019ll also tell you that in the case of The Evil Within, him sitting in the director\u2019s chair had less to do with a personal investment in the project and more to do with business.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m allowed to say this, but I did need to be the director in order to manage the completely new team under this new studio,\u201d he tells Game Informer<\/i> via a translator. \u201cAnd also, there was this thinking where I probably needed to be the director in order for the funding to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though the game was marketed as his return to survival horror, a genre he helped invent and popularize with the first Resident Evil, Mikami spent his post-Capcom, pre-Tango years turning down proposals for new horror titles. Even in the case of The Evil Within, Mikami tells us, \u201cat the time, yeah, if there was a chance not to work on a horror game, then maybe I would\u2019ve considered that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not bad,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s just; I wish I could\u2019ve raised the quality a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n After The Evil Within, John Johanas was the first new director within Tango to get the chance to lead a project \u2013 at least that we\u2019ve heard. How he got it is a bit unorthodox. Johanas joined Tango in August 2010, shortly after the company was founded. Before joining, he was an English teacher for Japan\u2019s JET Program, a government program built to teach foreign languages in Japan (and a common way for people to get working visas to move to the country).<\/p>\n Johanas translated a \u201chuge\u201d Japanese novel into English as part of his application process, gifting it to the studio head. Mikami was surprised, but admits he wasn\u2019t interested in Johanas being an English teacher. Not to mention, he doesn\u2019t read the language. Nevertheless, Johanas got the job. \u201c[I] saw there was passion in his eyes,\u201d Mikami says.<\/p>\n Johannes spent his first three or four years creating game design documents and then levels for The Evil Within. When Tango had an opportunity to develop DLC, director duty went to Johanas, who led development on \u201cThe Consequence\u201d and \u201cThe Assignment,\u201d both released in 2015. Then he directed an entire game: The Evil Within 2, which was critically well-received if not successful commercially.<\/p>\n Johanas is already working on his next game<\/a> as director, marking the first developer at the studio publicly announced as director of more than one project. \u201cHe\u2019s entering his prime,\u201d Masato says.<\/p>\n But Johanas is certainly not the most recognizable name from Mikami\u2019s stable of new directors. That would be Ikumi Nakamura. But it\u2019s complicated. And ropes in Tango\u2019s latest director, Kinji Kimura.<\/p>\n On paper, Nakamura seems like the ideal director for Mikami\u2019s vision. By the time she got to Tango, she\u2019d had a long career in the game industry \u2013 also at Capcom and Platinum, though she didn\u2019t work directly with Mikami \u2013 helping develop the extremely well-liked \u014ckami at the former and Bayonetta at the latter. According to Mikami, based on her work as a concept artist on The Evil Within, Nakamura\u2019s talent was \u201cabove and beyond\u201d other developers. \u201cThe next step for her was definitely to be the director,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n His instincts were correct \u2013 and then some.<\/p>\n At E3 2019, Nakamura announced her directorial debut, Ghostwire: Tokyo, during Bethesda\u2019s press conference. Almost instantly, she became an internet celebrity due largely to her endearing speech. It made Nakamura one of the more-recognizable game developers in recent years, and it also put her new project on people\u2019s radar. \u201cConsidering the game industry at the time, it was pretty clear that if she were to come on stage as a creative director, she would become very popular at a speed much faster than anyone else,\u201d Mikami says.<\/p>\n Again, his instincts were correct, but fate had other plans. In September 2019, Nakamura left Tango Gameworks, two years before it wrapped work on Ghostwire.<\/p>\n Nakamura\u2019s departure is complicated and something we spoke to her in-depth about in\u00a02021<\/a>. Alongside the health issues she was experiencing, Nakamura struggled under the pressure of developer-publisher relationships; she didn\u2019t like the stress of Bethesda, Tango\u2019s parent company, having complete control over her project.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a creative director, so this is literally my baby,\u201d Nakamura told us. \u201cMy four-year-old baby. So, to let that go \u2013 ask any mother to let her baby go. It was that gut-ripping.\u201d<\/p>\n As to be expected, the Tango employees we talked to wish Nakamura the best in her career; she\u2019s listed in the \u201cSpecial Thanks\u201d portion of Ghostwire\u2019s credits. Shortly before the release of her former project, Nakamura formally announced her new independent studio, Unseen<\/a>, marking the next stage in her career. \u201cShe made the world and art for Ghostwire, and we very much appreciate the work that she\u2019s done,\u201d Mikami says.<\/p>\n Kinji Kimura, who began on Ghostwire as a game designer, took Nakaura\u2019s place. With his new job came a learning curve. Kinji is quick to point to Mikami as a mentor, especially when it comes to how to direct a video game. That\u2019s not to say Mikami isn\u2019t also taking lessons from his younger staff.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing that comes up repeatedly in our interviews with Tango, it\u2019s the idea of the customer experience. And almost every time it\u2019s brought up by Masato and Kinji, they immediately point back to Mikami.<\/p>\n \u201cHis mentality goes far deeper in regards to customer experience than everybody else probably thinks,\u201d Kinji says. \u201cThat has been a very big learning experience for me.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Masato, in his current role within Tango as executive producer, Mikami pulls back on projects. He stays in the background; he\u2019s a few steps behind, watching over things.<\/p>\n However, Mikami has a lot of experience directing video games \u2013 a few of them considered the best, or at least most influential, of all time. Even if he isn\u2019t currently in the director\u2019s chair, that experience isn\u2019t going to waste; it\u2019s passed down to a newer generation.<\/p>\n On Ghostwire, Kinji says Mikami was instrumental in teaching him how to focus on the customer experience, be \u201cadamant\u201d about achieving quality, and deal with the stresses of being a director. He also learned when to throw out ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned about the responsibilities of what we need to focus on,\u201d Kinji says. \u201cSometimes that\u2019s a very difficult decision to make, but it\u2019s all in [service] of trying to hone down on the customer experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Mikami says he chose Kinji to take over Ghostwire due to his ability to process and understand complex information. He was passionate about making a good game, too, which helps. Lastly, Mikami says he has a strong and healthy mental mindset, which is something he looks for in directors.<\/p>\n Now that he\u2019s had a chance to see two of his directors successfully ship games, Mikami says he\u2019s also learned from the younger members of his staff. The easy answer is learning how to work more efficiently from home, a symptom of the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic. But also a surprising answer: Mikami says he\u2019s learning how to be more selfish.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably more of a reminder,\u201d he says. \u201cBut as I get to this age, it gets harder and harder to be selfish about what I want to make.\u201d<\/p>\n Which begs the question: does Mikami see himself directing another game? Yes. He\u2019s said as much in other interviews, recently telling VG247<\/i><\/a> that he wants to make \u201cat least\u201d one more game. He tells us, though, it will probably be more than one.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it would be plural,\u201d Mikami says. \u201cI\u2019m not thinking about when to actually stop, or making the last [game]. I probably would not be able to just stop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been working with Mikami-san for a very long time,\u201d Masato follows up. \u201cI can tell you that he is probably going to be making something for the rest of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n When Mikami returns as director, time will tell. Masato told VG247<\/i> in the same interview mentioned above that Mikami will not lead Tango\u2019s next game. That might be Johanas\u2019 new project, which Mikami recently told Weekly Famitsu<\/i> (via Video Games Chronicle<\/i><\/a>) is \u201cthe complete opposite of horror.\u201d<\/p>\n Either way, 12 years after first establishing his vision, Mikami\u2019s track record stands solid; two out of three isn\u2019t a bad number. But Masato also sees this approach to game development as a unique advantage. Tango is doing things differently. And according to him, it all starts with Mikami, a man, he says, that gets bored easily.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in a very powerful way,\u201d Masato says. \u201cHe wants to do something new all the time. He\u2019s looking for something cool and new. It always starts with the idea; it always starts with the game plan, the plan for the game. If he has a good plan for a game, then he chooses a director for that plan. It\u2019s always about the game and the game design. That comes first. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll see us being a little bit different from other studios. We do see that as an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n This article originally appeared in Issue 345<\/a> of Game Informer.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-1.jpg\")
Tango Gameworks’ latest game, Ghostwire: Tokyo <\/p>\nFunding the Dream<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-2.jpg\")
Image source: Tango Gameworks
\nShinji Mikami <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-3.jpg\")
Image source: Tango Gameworks
\nMasato Kimura <\/p>\nPolitics<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-4.jpg\")
Image source: Ikumi Nakamura
\nBehind-the-scenes look at Ikumi Nakamura at E3 <\/p>\nGetting Bored, Powerfully<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-5.jpg\")
Image source: Tango Gameworks
\nKenji Kimura <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tango-gameworks-a-decade-later-6.jpg\")
Tango Gameworks’ latest game, Ghostwire: Tokyo <\/p>\n