Tango Gameworks has announced that company founder Shinji Mikami will be leaving the studio. This was confirmed in a company-wide email from Tango Gameworks Senior Vice President Todd Vaughn (via TrueAchievements)

“I am writing today to let you know that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months,” Vaughn said in the email. “Mikami-san has been a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers at Tango for 12 years through his work on The Evil Within franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and of course, Hi-Fi Rush.”

Vaughn also says that the latest game from Tango, Hi-Fi Rush which was shadow dropped last month and for which Mikiami was Executive Producer was “one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years,” and that it has “generated significant positive momentum for the business and Tango.”

Shinji Mikami has had an impressive 33-year career. He first worked for Capcom where he is credited as the creator of the Resident Evil series including directing Resident Evil 4, often considered one of the best games of all time. In 2007 he left Capcom to found Platinum Games alongside fellow alumni Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba. Here he directed the cult classic Vanquish before leaving Platinum to found Tango Game Works in 2010.

As of this article, it has not been confirmed why Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks although he has notably taken a more senior position in the company in recent years, having only directed the first Evil Within game and acting as an executive producer for Tango’s other titles.

VGC has also pointed out that in 2020 Mikami said he wanted to direct one last video game project before he retires. He later reiterated this fact in 2022 in a discussion with Resident Evil Producer Jun Takeuchi. Here he wants to make another game on his terms.

“Something else I want to do is make my own game. To make another game. Right now we’re slowly preparing for that, and to make it work I get to give all the annoying jobs to someone else to handle.”