Shinji Mikami has joined Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media

[Slidell]

ZeniMax announced it has acquired Mikami's Tokyo-based studio, Tango Gameworks, which recently opened its doors in March of this year. Acquisition costs were not disclosed.

 

"It's refreshing to find a publisher who understands, trusts, and supports the development of blockbuster games and works to make it a collaborative effort," said Mikami.

 

"The library of AAA franchise titles ZeniMax owns speaks for itself. We are very excited to be joining ZeniMax and working with a company that is dedicated to creating the best games ever made."

 

Details surrounding the projects the studio currently has in development are not known. The announcement states, however, Tango Gameworks is dedicated to "AAA multi-platform game development." The studio has been attracting many of Japan's top developers, many of whom have worked on the Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Final Fantasy franchises.

 

Tango Gameworks will continue to be run by Mikami and he will serve as creative director on all future projects.

 

"Shinji Mikami has earned a stellar reputation as one of the industry's finest game developers," said Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media.

 

"He has repeatedly created hit titles that have earned praise from fans and critics around the world. We share his vision for innovative, genre-defining games and look forward to working with Shinji and his team at Tango."

 

This is the third studio acquisition in the last year for ZeniMax Media.

 

In June 2009, the company acquired famed Doom and Quake developer id Software. Announced at this past QuakeCon in August, Arkane Studios was also gobbled up by ZeniMax

 

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami isn't cooling his jets after completing work on the chaotic sci-fi shooter, Vanquish. Zenimax Media has acquired his Tango Gameworks studio in Tokyo and repositioned it as a division of Zenimax Asia. As creative lead at Tango, Shinji Mikami will oversee development of games for the Bethesda Softworks label.

 

"It's refreshing to find a publisher who understands, trusts, and supports the development of blockbuster games and works to make it a collaborative effort," Mikami said of the announcement. "The library of AAA franchise titles ZeniMax owns speaks for itself. We are very excited to be joining ZeniMax and working with a company that is dedicated to creating the best games ever made."

 

Shinji Mikami's games also speak for themselves, usually in gruff and scary voices. In a profile posted on the Tango website, Mikami described his goal as "making games from the viewpoint of the creator," and producing something that would "unify everyone's love of games around the world." With famous Japanese creators like Tomonobu Itagaki, Suda 51 -- and now Shinji Mikami -- forging deals with the likes of THQ, EA and Zenimax, it seems that a strong Western partner is becoming crucial in achieving that.

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/28/shinji-mikami-to-develop-games-for-bethesda-as-zenimax-acquires/

[.Slack♠]

Bethesda is fantastic they just need to put fallout on a next gen engine. The Rage engine-whatever it is- would be hellasweet for fallout.