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Shinji Mikami is leaving Tango Gameworks

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Microsoft is the main villain of the gaming industry
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Alternative take to the idea that he is leaving to make games elsewhere: he'll be 58 this year. After 25 years in the industry and the knowledge of how much work it would be to set up a new studio or even just a new team and how long it takes to make a game...

Is it likely that he would turn his back on the well resourced, skilled team and a parent company who were very keen to have him make games?

Or is it likely that he'd want to spend a year or two setting a studio up or just attempting to hire a complete staff, all so he can release a game at the age of 65 on Xbox, PC and Playstation rather than Xbox and PC.

I'll say again, if he wants to make a game, he's got the team and support now. But it doesn't get released on PlayStation. It gets released everywhere else. So leave the fully staffed and accomplished company you created and start again. At 58.

I would think the most likely thing is that he doesn't plan to make more games. The only way I see that happening is if he is getting a giant payday to head a production by another fully established studio. As to whether he can just leave the company and immediately start working elsewhere, I don't know but I don't see him setting something new up as a reasonably likely outcome, and I intend no offence when I say I don't frankly think his brand would make a dramatic difference to a game's marketing.

All signs point to: if he wanted to make games he'd be making games right now. Not leaving the games company he created. Time will of course tell.
 
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ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
It's really great to see him foster new creative leads, something that they also do at Nintendo.

I wish Sakurai and Kojima had these kinda people that could follow them, or maybe there are and we just don't know.
 

Yoboman

Member
Retiring on HIGH note, I see.

Hifi Rush is a huge achievement, pretty much accomplishes whatever he set out to do with the studio.



This is the sort of challenge any executive would get excited for.
Lol no. Man's 50 years old and made bank already. If he's making games it's so that many people can play them
 
Microsoft is Terrible managing theit own studios and securing talent, from a NDA perspective we may never know what happen, but with Microsoft record is something like this:

1-Mikami like the rest of his generation, Just want to mentor young developers and make games, without the stress of directing
2-Microsoft like always stick his nose and besides creative work, now have to do Corporate and "Suit Work"
3-They want to implement some stupid policy, like when they wanted Bungie to wear Suits to work, Probably an outsorcing policy like the infamous 18 month contract, or wanted to change the estudio DNA and pipelines
4-He is pissed with many Corporate Bullshit, He is very rich and not happy, so he leave to a studio who Just can mentor to deliver games

Microsoft want their first party games to be Online first, Single player optional, so for someone like mikami, that was a recipee for disaster, And im pretty sure kamiya And the rest of their friend at platinum told them the pain in the ass Microsoft can be
 

Yoboman

Member
So he should work exclusively on Nintendo games then?

Eh, I’d be fine with Switch/PC exclusives.
That would definitely give him the biggest Japanese audience and he has a good relationship with Nintendo. He has always prioritised higher tech though
 

Kikorin

Member
That's why buy studios is not always a good deal, since talents can go away and start new studio/join a new team. I'm not saying no more talents are in Tango Gameworks, but I think is a huge loss for them.
 
Somehow I knew this was going to happen at some point.
I hope he won't retire just yet and collaborate here and there on new projects as a producer, creative director or whatever.
 

anthony2690

Banned
Would love to see him back maybe working on a Dino Crisis remake with Capcom? But if he's really retiring - good for him. Well deserved rest I guess.
This is how I feel, would love to see Dino Crises 1 & 2 be remade & maybe make a new number 3, pretending the original one doesn't exist 😁

But if he retires, like you said, it's well deserved ❤️
 
His Wiki says he's 57. This man prolly wants to enjoy retirement but then again do Japanese men even retire this early as they all live till like 100+?
 

consoul

Member
Man's retiring. And I'm happy for him.

I've been following him on twitter and the vibe I've felt over the past few years is that he no longer has a burning desire to make new games. I reckon his new focus is chilling out, eating well, travelling and enjoying life. He doesn't need to work anymore.
 

Yoboman

Member
Idk man, The Evil Within had its good things and it had it bad things, but little to nothing remarkable.
And Ghostwire... Oof.

Biggest hit at Tango came from another 'no one knows shit about him' designer and his low budget side project.

Goes to show how this is yet another demonstration that ideas>>>>>>names.
Are you under the assumption Mikami directed Ghostwire or something?
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
he's retiring, he said he would a couple years ago.

all the people here blaming xbox lol. proving that gaf is just a bunch of sony fanatics.
Came here to post this. At least someone is actually paying attention. He said he had maybe one more game in him two years ago.

He may have changed his mind since then, but there's no indication that he left because of Xbox or Bethesda or that he got poached.
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
No idea what's going on over at Tango. They also lost the director of Ghostwire mid development. Either this means he feels his mentorship phase is done because they're doing well, or he dislikes working at Tango for some reason. Could be a sign theyre in great shape or about to see an exodus. Waiting 1 month after Hi-Fi Rush just tells me he's had this in mind for a while.

Leaving a job is one thing, but leaving a studio you founded yourself and are the top person at is certainly strange.
 
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ungalo

Member
It's not said anywhere that he's retiring right now lol.

Obviously i'm not saying it's Xbox fault but that's really a shame. Mikami was a huge name under the Xbox flag, especially when Tango is their only japanese studio. That's really a bummer.
 
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