Shinji Mikami’s new studio Unbound has been acquired by Stellar Blade maker Shift Up as the two join forces to unleash the Resident Evil director’s first game since he left his previous studio, The Evil Within maker Tango Gameworks, back in 2023.
“I am very pleased to be partnering with Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim and all the employees,” Mikami said in a press release. “I sense strong synergy with CEO Kim, who is also an active creator, and I believe this is an ideal partnership that allows us to focus on creativity. We will do our best to create fun games so that both companies, working as one, can meet our fans’ expectations.”
Unbound, based in Tokyo, reportedly has around 50 developers at the moment and is working on “developing original PC and console-based IPs targeting the global market.” Released alongside the news was a video introducing the new partnership, which includes a possible tease at the very end as to the possible overall vibe of Unbound’s next game:
Mikami’s last game with Capcom was the 2006 beat ’em up God Hand. After splitting with the publisher, he worked with Platinum Games to ship Vanquish before later forming Tango Gameworks under Bethesda. There he developed the new survival horror franchise The Evil Within and helped a new generation of developers ship original games like Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush.
Shift Up, meanwhile, is working on multiple new projects including a sequel to 2023’s Stellar Blade, a Souls-lite sci-fi action-adventure that significantly raised the Korean developer’s profile. “I grew up playing games from Shinji Mikami,” Kim said in a company blog post. “And to be here now working together is incredibly meaningful.” But excitement alone isn’t the point. Kim’s ambition for Shift Up as a publisher is built on a simple conviction: “If a work is good, people will naturally understand its value without needing excessive praise or forced recommendations.”