Ikumi Nakamura, the former creative director of Ghostwire Tokyo, has formalized his studio. Unseen will showcase artists and change the way games are designed.
The name might not ring a bell to you, but Ikumi Nakamura rose to prominence during E3 2019 at Bethesda’s 2019 conference. Highlighted by Shinji Mikami, she went on stage to announce Ghostwire Tokyo as the game’s creative director. But in the meantime, the darling of Internet users has left Tango Gameworks to found her studio. After a few months in the green, she presents it to us and here is Unseen.
Ikumi goes solo
In order not to wreck his health more than reason, Ikumi Nakamura had preferred to fly on his own and we now know more about his new studio. Starting with the name: Unseen. As for the philosophy, the official website summarizes the entity as:
We are a mysterious and borderless game development studio created by artists.
Despite not always obvious years, a pandemic and becoming a mother, she is back in the industry with more certainty:
As an artist, developer, and mother, I always felt like I was on a lifelong quest to find my place. When the pandemic hit, my view of the world changed. I was worried about how the changes in the world, in addition to becoming a mother, would alter the designer in me. In the end, I’m still the same designer.
Unseen: a studio that wants to break down boundaries
After the confidences on her personal situation in the video above, Ikumi Nakamura tells the priorities of Unseen where she will remain in her position as creative director. The developer wants to continueapproach game design in a different wayalongside of artists who all share cultures differentand not limited to the video game industry :
I am forming a new team in a way that I have never experienced before. Working and learning with this incredible group of talents sets the bar very high for all of us. I love breaking boundaries and making people say “Wow”. The Tokyo studio is like a crossroads of different cultures. A hub for artists. We want to transcend ourselves beyond the video game.
She also explains the choice of Unseen:
As artists, we use our imagination to see the invisible. We are invisible, we are borderless, we are artists. We work without being seen. We are a group of artists who transcend national boundaries, working unseen. We are Unseen.
Obviously, she is not alone and here are the first recruits:
Misuzu Watanabe, game director, was game designer on Devil May Cry 5. The other members were able to work on major productions such as Far Cry, Crysis, Bayonetta, Resident Evil or The Evil Within, the license of the former Ikumi Nakamura studio.