After legendary game developer Shinji Mikami founded Tango Gameworks, the studio set out to makeThe Evil Within, a classic-style survival-horror game that earned positive reviews and sold well enough to spawn a sequel.Instead of makingThe Evil Within 3for its next game, Tango Gameworks is working on a brand-new IP calledGhostwire: Tokyo, though it’s possible that it could be the start of a new franchise of its own.
Game Rant recently spoke withGhostwire: TokyoExecutive Producer Shinji Mikami and Game Director Kenji Kimura about the upcoming action-adventure game. We asked if Tango Gameworks foreseesGhostwire: Tokyobecoming its own franchise. Mikami said, “I wasn’t really thinking of this becoming a very long numbered title franchise, but depending on how it sells and how consumers react to it, then definitely we can start at that point considering a sequel.”
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Kimura added, “We definitely as developers want to make a fun, enjoyable experience and the more and more we start digging into it, there are more ideas that spawn for a sequel. But it all depends on sales and how the world reacts to the game.” So while aGhostwire: Tokyosequel may not be in the planning stages just yet,Tango Gameworksdoes have some ideas on what it may want to do with it if the first game is a success.
Early reactions toGhostwire: Tokyogameplay footageseems to be mostly positive, and that combined with Tango’s track record of delivering quality games could very well help it become a sales success. However, there are admittedly some things working against it. For one,Ghostwire: Tokyohas a potentially niche premise and is heavily based on Japanese culture. This is not a bad thing by any means, but it does mean it could have less appeal for western audiences.
The other issue is that theGhostwire: Tokyorelease datelands on the same day as other major game releases. March 25 is crowded right now, withGhostwire: Tokyojoined by the likes ofTiny Tina’s WonderlandsandKirby and the Forgotten Land. The good news is that there’s not necessarily a ton of overlap between the audiences of those games, asTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis a co-op shooter andKirby and the Forgotten Landis Switch exclusive, but it could still prove problematic for the game’s early sales. And then there’s the fact thatGhostwire: Tokyois a timed-PS5 console exclusive, which limits its potential audience even further.
However, that’s just speculation at this time.Ghostwire: Tokyocould very well be a smash hit out of the gate regardless of the stiff competition it faces. And even if it doesn’t live up to expectations, one would think that the eventual Xbox version would come to Xbox Game Pass at some point, meaning it always has the chance to grow its audience in future.
Ghostwire: Tokyolaunches March 25 for PC and PS5.
