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Bethesda confirmed that GhostWire: Tokyo is still in development, after the departure of creative director Ikumi Nakamura in September 2019 (via Push Square).
In the latest episode of Kinda Funny Games’ We Have Cool Friends, Bethesda’s Pete Hines was invited to chat with host Greg Miller on a number of topics. The highly-anticipated games Deathloop from Arkane and GhostWire: Tokyo from Tango Gameworks popped up in conversation, and it seems that the latter project is progressing well. “I’m really excited for you to see the game itself,” enthused Hines. “I won’t say anything now, but it does have an interesting parallel to Doom Eternal that I’ll talk to you about once we show GhostWire that I’m curious if you picked up or noticed… After you see it, I’ll explain a little bit about it. I’m sure we’ll talk a little bit about where the connective tissue is between those two things.”
It’s an interesting comment, because Doom Eternal and GhostWire: Tokyo look like chalk and cheese on the surface. Also, Hines essentially confirmed that GhostWire: Tokyo is still happening, in spite of its creative director’s departure. For many, the highlight of Bethesda’s E3 2019 presentation wasn’t a game or a trailer; it was Ikumi Nakamura’s excitable personality. She clearly loved GhostWire: Tokyo to bits, and that informed her stage presence and even the media coverage of the upcoming game. Nakamura got a lot of followers afterwards, and she shared fan art and memes of her presentation in good humour.
That’s why it was so surprising when she left the studio in September 2019. “After 9 years as creative director & art director at Tango and Zenimax—I felt here is one of ends of the journeys,” she said, and started seeking creative opportunities elsewhere. Bethesda thanked her for her work on GhostWire: Tokyo, but crucially did not comment on the status of the game, which was then without a creative director. Now, we know that it is still in the works, and the publisher is planning to preview GhostWire: Tokyo in time.
