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Ghostwire Tokyo creative director left to fund her own studio after stress

Ikumi Nakamura finally opens up about leaving Tango Gameworks and her future plans.

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Despite making games such as Okami, Bayonetta and The Evil Within, Ikumi Nakamura wasn't exactly a name many besides those of us who follow the games industry very close knew, before June 2019. But then Nakamura-san walked onto Bethesda's E3 2019 stage and unveiled Ghostwire Tokyo with a charm that took the world by storm. Unfortunately, that made it all the more surprising when she suddenly left Tango Gameworks three months later. She didn't say why, but the fact that she visited studios such as Santa Monica Studios and PlatinumGames after the resignation sure made it seem like she wasn't leaving the industry. Now we finally know why she left and what she's doing next.

Because the folks over at new Cutscenes channel on YouTube have posted a 17-minute-long mini-documentary about Nakamura-san's career, and it's really fascinating to hear her story. The part that might be most important for those of you who aren't interested in knowing more about the great minds behind games, however, is where we learn that she left Tango Gameworks and Ghostwire Tokyo because she'd felt ill for a while and seemingly thought that the stress of games development had part of the blame. One of the reasons for her studio tours was to learn how to have a good work environment. She did apparently learn a lot, as she's now started her own small studio and is working on her own new intellectual property. We're not told much about what her plans for the new game are, but it'll be full of dark humour and that she hopes to have full gender equality at her studio. These things, her general philosophies and artistic skills are more than enough to get me excited at least, so take your time, Nakamura-san.

Ghostwire Tokyo creative director left to fund her own studio after stress


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