With Ghostwire: Tokyo being Tango Gameworks’ third title, the studio has garnered a reputation for creating triple-A action-horror games. Now that Tango Gameworks exists within the Xbox Game Studios label, there was the assumption that it would continue pumping out big-budget games. As it turns out, the acquisition may actually afford the freedom to experiment in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Tango Gameworks founder and CEO Shinji Mikami recently spoke to Famitsu, with the interview being translated by VGC. According to the interview, Mikami wants to change the studio’s image as one of the premiere horror developers.
A major part of the reason behind the existence of Tango Gameworks rests with providing opportunities to younger developers. After all, once he finished directing the original The Evil Within, Mikami passed the torch to John Johanas for its sequel. Unfortunately, this desire to breed new talent becomes increasingly difficult as the scale of projects continues to increase.
This is why Mikami wants Tango Gameworks to delve into smaller titles. According to him, “it is possible to gain experience in a small team and then get involved in a big project. This way, we can make even better games and projects can proceed more smoothly.” This wouldn’t have been possible in the past, but the changing climate, which includes game subscription services, provides the safety net that should allow this experimentation in the future.
This extends beyond crafting smaller-scale projects. Tango Gameworks also plans to branch out into genres that aren’t influenced by horror to any extent. At the moment, Johanas is working on a new game that is, “the complete opposite of horror,” according to Mikami.
