Known for designing some of the most iconic creatures in legendary franchises alongside her mentor, legendary Shinji Mikami and also known for being internet’s darling after her E3 presentation of GhostWire Tokyo, Tango‘s Ikumi Nakamura has unfortunately announced in a series of tweets that she is leaving the studio to pursue her own goals.
“It has been nine years as a creative director, art director and concept artist for Tango Gameworks and Zenimax. For the last few years, I’ve been doing my best to make Ghostwire: Tokyo like my own child. Please allow me to leave the project on the way.
The entire world is kind of a very balanced puzzle. Don’t miss even a small piece, I believe. Things are multifaceted. You might not believe something I believe. The reverse is also true. To somebody everything that’s happening in the world appears phony.
I DO NOT want to forget appreciation and respect to everything.
I’ve also decided to proceed to the new world I can keep myself happy and somebody require me. Now the huge world is showing me infinite possibilities, like an open world video game. Life in NOT linear”
While she doesn’t give a straight answer, without entering conspiracy territory, it is indeed bizarre for a creative director to leave her project right in the middle of its development and if there’s one thing the industry has taught us, is that a creative director’s departure almost always mean that the project is going to have a drastic direction change. She has also stated that she is going freelance, indicating that she didn’t find a better opportunity for her to justify leaving the studio. Perhaps there is really not more to it but it was still very unexpected news. We truly hope that her genius mind doesn’t go to waste and can’t wait to see what project she will take on next! Stay tuned for updates.
