Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami has stated that he wants the studio to focus on smaller titles as well as more non-horror titles.
In an interview with Famitsu, translated by VGC, the Resident Evil Creator states that while he is grateful for the studio’s good reputation for survival horror, he does not want them to be tied to a single genre.
“Of course, it’s nice to have fans think of us as a studio with a reputation for developing survival horror games. But we also want to be viewed as a studio that can create a wider variety of games. We will be releasing more and more new games in the future, starting with Ghostwire: Tokyo, so please give us your support.”
Tango Gameworks’ latest title is Ghostwire Tokyo, which has horror elements but is more of an action title. Shinji Mikami even said that he does not consider it to be a horror game.
“Some people may feel that Ghostwire: Tokyo has a bit of a horror feel to it, but make no mistake, Ghostwire: Tokyo is not a horror game. It is an arcade-style action-adventure game”.
To further stress his point, Mikami says that John Johanas, the director of The Evil Within 2 is currently working on a new title that is “the complete opposite of horror”. He says people should “keep their eyes peeled for it”.
Other than non-horror titles, Mikami stated that he also wanted teamwork on smaller game projects. This is in part because it is easier to train newcomers in smaller teams.
“Although we are a studio that makes games, we also want it to have the aspect of a game school where staff can learn how to make games. We want to make it a place where you can grow as a creator and develop your skills and core while working from the bottom up.”
“To be honest, it is quite difficult to train newcomers in a large team. I think the most effective way is to run several game development teams of several dozen people.”
I can understand Mikami wanting his studio to branch out to other genres. That being said there aren’t a lot of big-budget horror games coming out nowadays; Resident Evil, Dead by Daylight, and Supermassive’s titles are the only ones that really come to mind, so I wouldn’t mind if Tango kept making some new horror games, at least every now and then.
Ghostwire Tokyo is available for PS5 and PC.