The acquisition of Bethesda by Microsoft has made the status of several studios very confusing. One example being Tango Gameworks, the developer of The Evil Within and upcoming action-adventure game Ghostwire: Tokyo. As part of Xbox's plans for the Tokyo Game Show online convention, however, Tango Gameworks' executive producer Shinji Mikami has shed some light on what Tango Gameworks, and specifically the game director of The Evil Within 2, are up to next.
The Evil Within 2's director is named John Johanas, who took over the series from legendary Resident Evil creator Mikami who shifted to a focus on production. Since 2017, when The Evil Within 2 was released, it wasn't clear what Johanas was working on next. Given Mikami's comments about giving new creators opportunities to direct at Tango Gameworks, it wasn't even clear if Johanas would continue directing. Now, however, Mikami is confirming that Johanas has a new product in development.
Speaking at TGS, Mikami was promoted by Xbox boss Phil Spencer to talk about what Johanas was currently working on. Mikami followed through by saying that Johanas is currently "energetically" working on a new game. Neither Mikami nor Spencer unfortunately follow through on the tease with any more information. All that they confirm is that Tango Gameworks has another game in development being worked on by The Evil Within 2's game director.
It's not necessarily a surprise that Tango Gameworks and Johanas have a new project being worked on. Tango Gameworks is currently moving close to the end of Ghostwire: Tokyo's development, as it's currently scheduled for 2022 after a delay from late 2021. As Ghostwire: Tokyo's development spins down, resources will be shifted to other projects at Tango Gameworks. Now fans know of one potential destination for those resources within the company.
While Mikami and Spencer didn't provide any further details on the in-development project, fans are free to speculate. Given that Johanas was gifted the Evil Within franchise from Mikami, the most likely betting option is that it's The Evil Within 3. Of course, Mikami also likes original horror game ideas, so it could be a new IP, too.
Without more information, Tango Gameworks' next project really could be anything. It may even be a non-horror project, as unlikely as that its. The demand from Tango Gameworks is certainly that it's working on something incredibly frightening, though. That's certainly the audience it's built with the two games in the Evil Within series. And Xbox very likely would love its own horror game franchise, too.
Tango Gameworks' unnamed project is currently in development.