Shinji Mikami has been on gardening leave since leaving Tango Gameworks, which is about as long as you’d expect from Japanese gaming industry trends.

Mikami left Tango Gameworks in early 2023 to form a new team. It was revealed on the website of Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered (and we’ll return to that game later today). There you can see this information: “As director and producer of the Resident Evil and The Evil Within series and more, Mikami has created numerous blockbuster hits. 1996 saw the release of Resident Evil, which he directed. He was instrumental in popularizing the survival horror genre and has been a major influence in the video game industry ever since.

In 2010, Mikami founded Tango K.K. (renamed Tango Gameworks in October of the same year after becoming part of ZeniMax Media Inc.), where he directed and released The Evil Within. He also served as executive producer on Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush. After leaving Tango Gameworks, he founded Kamuy Inc,” according to the website, and the Japanese version also mentions him (as 株式会社カムイ).

Mikami hasn’t officially announced the formation of the company, so you could say that Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered developer Grasshopper Manufacture made a mistake in saying this, but considering that it’s been a year since he left Tango Gameworks, maybe it wasn’t a coincidence. What is certain is that Mikami had already founded Kamuy in Tokyo on October 5, according to a company database called SalesNow.

Mikami is also known for several games and IPs: Dino Crisis (director, producer), Devil May Cry (producer in charge of the first episode), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (executive producer), P.N.03 (director), God Hand (director), Vanquish (director), and many more examples could be given. Hopefully a return to the survival horror genre. That could be interesting from him.

Source: Gematsu, Grasshopper Manufacture, SalesNow