Ikumi Nakamura, the first GhostWire: Tokyo creative director who is a huge splash with her short performance at E3 2019, she is finally ready to talk about opening her own game development studio after leaving Tango Gameworks in 2019. Fittingly, she did while exploring some scary, abandoned buildings.
During her interview with Cutscenes, a new YouTube channel created by an independent documentary maker Archipelago and Japanese gambling site GameSpark, Nakamura explains that the decision to step down at Tango Gameworks was driven by concerns about her health. While it was difficult to walk away from the finish GhostWire: Tokyo, a game she considers her child in some way, Nakamura felt she needed to get out of the situation before it was too late.
“You can’t make games if you’re not healthy,” Nakamura says. “I started to wonder if there was no way to make games while I was feeling better. I ran away in a way. However, I believe running away can be very positive. Rather than piling things up on their own, I think running away from something better is the healthier choice. “
Nakamura mentions that after she left Tango Gameworks, she was inundated with messages ranging from letters of encouragement to job openings. She ended up accepting several invitations from studios around the world to just visit their offices and see how they were organized. Nakamura says this helped her get a sense of how she would like to run her own studio one day, knowing she plans to transfer to this new venture.
“It was an opportunity for me to travel and learn what made a good work environment,” explains Nakamura. “I decided to use that experience to open my own small studio and build my IP. I want to try an IP again in that studio; this is what i’m working on right now. It is stimulating to get to know new cultures. Of course there is a language barrier, but even for someone like me who doesn’t speak English, I want to speak 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 like we can bring something new to the players. “
G / O Media can receive a commission
While she couldn’t talk much about what kind of game her studio makes, Nakamura was open about her experiences as a woman in the games industry. After seeing how badly women are often treated in the male-dominated world of game development, she wants to achieve “full gender equality” in her new company and hopes more Japanese studios will follow suit.
“In my personal opinion, I find that stories written by women are more thoughtful and easier to understand,” Nakamura added. “I also feel that there is more diversity in their characters. In that sense, they are simpler and easier to understand for men. I tend to feel that stories written by women are more in sync with their time. Ultimately, no one can do everything. It’s about finding each person’s talents and using them accordingly to create a great game. “
With a resume with contributions to Okami Bayonetta, and The evil inside, Nakamura is one of the unsung creators of the game industry and it’s great to hear that she plans to organize her new studio with the health of her employees in mind. Check out the full interview above for more discussion of her history in development and the events surrounding her breakout performance at E3 2019, as well as some great location photography.