GhostWire: Tokyo creative director Ikumi Nakamura to set up new indie studio

Former Tango Gameworks dev and GhostWire: Tokyo creative director Ikumi Nakamura has lightly announced her next venture, though she has yet to reveal much about the studio itself.

Instead, Nakamura details her path through the game industry in a documentary from Cutscenes, including her exit from Tango Gameworks and her plans to establish a new studio, and wants a team backing her that is diverse in both gender and culture.

Details on exactly what form that studio will take, including its name or its first project, are light for the time being, but Namakura notes she wants it to capture her dark humor without taking itself too seriously.

"Many players picture me as someone drawn by horror or the grotesque," says Nakamura. "It's true in a way. However, one thing I'm aiming for is to stop making games too seriously."

Nakamura left Tango back in September 2019, only months after she made her very memorable public debut as GhostWire: Tokyo's creative director. In the short documentary, Nakamura mentions that her departure came out of an interest for her health.

"Back in the Capcom days, my seniors would be sleeping under their desks to make games, they were passionate to that point," recalls Namakura. "Although that wasn't the case anymore, when you get ideas and work in a team, there can be some problems that come with it, it arrived to the point where it got to my health."

"You can't make games if you're not healthy," she says "I started wondering whether there wasn't a way for me to make games while feeling better."