Spooky: Ikumi Nakamura has left Tango Gameworks just three months after her moment in the spotlight at E3 2019

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Ikumi Nakamura, Creative Director of Bethesda's "spooooky" Ghostwire: Tokyo game, leaves Tango Gameworks

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Sad news for anyone who instantly fell in love with Ikumi Nakamura, the unexpected surprise star of the Bethesda E3 2019 press conference, as the Creative Director of upcoming horror game Ghostwire: Tokyo has announced she's leaving Tango Gameworks after nine years with the studio. 

Revealing the news on Twitter, Nakamura explained her decision, saying that "after nine years as creative director & art director at Tango and Zenimax – I felt here is one of ends of the journeys. I learned from the talented people I've worked with and I respect."

Nakamura was introduced as the protege of famed game developer Shinji Mikami at E3 2019, where her infectious on-stage presence quickly turned her into an internet star. Her departure comes as surprise, then, especially as Ghostwire: Tokyo was her first project as creative director, and her E3 presence seemed to suggest she was invested in heading development through to completion. 

Tango Gameworks itself released a statement saying that Ghostwire: Tokyo is still in development in spite of Nakamura's exit, but the reasons for which she left remain suspiciously vague, especially as the developer herself has stated she has no new job lined up at present. 

"I have done my best to make Ghostwire: Tokyo like my own child.", stated Nakamura in a follow up tweet, "please allow me to leave the project on the way." Hopefully we'll be seeing more of her work in video games beyond the world of Tango soon. 

For more, check out the best games of E3 2019 that we saw earlier this year, or watch our Release Radar video below for a guide to everything else out this week. 

Alex Avard
Alex Avard

Alex is a former Features Writer at GamesRadar, which once made him responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!