Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series and often called “Father of Survival Horror”, has established a new studio called KAMUY.
This is according to his creator blurb on the new Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered official website, which unveiled that Shinji Mikami has recently founded KAMUY as his new studio.
His bio on the website reads:
As director and producer of the Resident Evil and The Evil Within series and more, Mikami has created numerous blockbuster hit titles. 1996 saw the release of Resident Evil, on which he acted as director. He greatly contributed to the popularization of the survival horror genre, and has had a major impact on 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.), after which he directed and released The Evil Within. He also acted as executive producer on Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi RUSH.
After leaving Tango Gameworks, he established KAMUY Inc.
Note that Mikami himself has not officially revealed the company’s establishment nor what he has been up to.
However, according to the Japanese companies database on SalesNow, a company called KAMUY was indeed established in Tokyo on October 5, 2023.
For those who are unaware of his career, Shinji Mikami earned the nickname “Father of Survival Horror” for his creation of the Resident Evil series in 1996 and the Dino Crisis franchise in 1999, popularising the survival horror genre.
He also directed the highly influential Resident Evil 4 in 2005 and the cult classic God Hand before leaving Capcom and briefly worked with PlatinumGames to direct the third-person shooter Vanquish in 2010.
In the same year, he founded the studio Tango Gameworks and under the company, he created The Evil Within series, another survival horror franchise with a strong fan following.
Last year, he departed from Tango Gameworks but also said that he wanted to direct one more video game project before he retires according to an interview with Variety, adding that he had no shortage of ideas, and they aren’t limited to the horror genre.
Currently, he is working alongside Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, on Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, an enhanced re-release of the cult classic third-person shooter about a road trip through hell.