Ikumi Nakamura, the first GhostWire: Tokyo creative director who made a huge splash with her brief appearance at E3 2019, she’s finally ready to talk about opening her own game development studio after leaving Tango Gameworks in 2019. Appropriately, she did so while exploring abandoned, creepy buildings. .
During his interview with Cutting scenes, a new YouTube channel created by an independent documentary filmmaker Archipelago and Japanese gaming site GameSpark, Nakamura explains that the decision to leave his position at Tango Gameworks arose out of concern for his health. Although it was hard to get away from finishing GhostWire: Tokyo, a game that somehow considers his son, Nakamura felt he had to get out of the situation before it was too late.
“You can’t play games if you’re not healthy,” Nakamura says. “I started to wonder if there was any way to play games while I felt better. He was running away in a way. Still, I think running away can be very positive. Instead of stacking things up on yourself, I think running away from something better is the healthiest option. ”
Nakamura mentions that after leaving Tango Gameworks, she was inundated with messages, from notes of encouragement to job offers. Eventually, he accepted several study invitations from around the world to simply visit his office and see how they were organized. Nakamura says this helped him form an idea of how he might want to run his own studio someday, knowing he plans to continue with this new venture.
“It was an opportunity to travel and learn what a good work environment was like,” Nakamura explains. “I decided to use this experience to open my own small studio and build my IP. I want to retry an IP in this study; in this I am working right now. It is stimulating to meet new cultures. Of course, there is a language barrier, but even for someone like me who can’t speak English, I want to talk to people who are curious to learn and understand each other. If I can form this type of team to work on a new game, I feel that we will be able to bring something new to the players ”.
G / O Media may receive a commission
Although she couldn’t share much information about what kind of game her studio is doing, Nakamura was open about her experiences as a woman in the gaming industry. After seeing how often women are abused in the male-dominated world of game development, she intends to achieve “full gender equality” in her new company and hopes to see more Japanese studios do the same.
“In my personal opinion, I feel that stories written by women are more considerate and easier to access,” Nakamura adds. “I also feel that there is more diversity in his characters. For men, they are simpler and easier to understand in this regard. I tend to feel that stories written by women are more in sync with their time. In the end, no one can do everything. It’s about finding each person’s talent and taking advantage of it to make a great game. “
With a summary that includes contributions to Okami, Bayonetta, i The evil within, Nakamura is one of the unknown creators of the gaming industry and it is wonderful to know that she intends her new studio to be organized taking into account the health of her workers. Be sure to check out the full interview above for more information on its developing history and events related to its appearance at E3 2019, as well as some fantastic location photos.