14 DAY TRIAL // Shinji Mikami, one of the best known Japanese video game creators, responsible for delivering Resident Evil and its sequels, recently formed an independent game development company that has recently been acquired by ZeniMax, the company which also owns Bethesda Softworks.
The developer has justified the move , stating, “I don't know how many truly massive projects I have left in me. Sooner or later, I'll have to shift my attention to raising new talent and handing the baton over to them. Joining the ZeniMax family puts me in a situation where I can leave the more boring details of that to other people. I'm trying not to expect too much, but I do feel that this is a chance for me to keep working in the front lines of development.”
The developer also says that ZeniMax has the resources needed to support development of a complex gaming experience in the long term and are prepared to give developers the time they need to create the best title they can.
Mikami adds, “they are willing to wait for good games to happen. They basically said to me 'Make what you want to make the most, because that's what will sell the best,' and I really appreciated that. They can say that because they've had so much success with that approach. If you didn't have experience with making that work as a manager, that's when you start meddling with projects and trying to protect your investment -- which I can understand, since these are multi-million dollar projects.”
The patience of the management team at ZeniMax has also been talked about by the developers at id Software, another independent team that was acquired.
They are currently working on a whole new game engine and the first person shooter RAGE and executives have claimed that ZeniMax made sure that they had the time needed to make a truly great game.