is a Japanese video game artist and director. She is best known for her work at Tango Gameworks as an artist on ''

The Evil Within ''The Evil Within'' is a survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game was directed by ''Resident Evil'' series creator Shinji Mikami and was released worldwide in October 2014 for PlayStat ...

'' (2014) and ''

The Evil Within 2 ''The Evil Within 2'' is a survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It was released worldwide in October 2017 and is the sequel to 2014's ''The Evil ...

'' (2017), and as creative director for '' Ghostwire: Tokyo'' before leaving the company mid-development. She also did artwork for ''

Ōkami is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan and North America, and in 2007 in Europe and Australia. After the closure of Clover Studio a few months a ...

'' (2006) at

Clover Studio was a Japanese video game development studio founded by Capcom. The studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of '' Viewtiful Joe'', both versions of ''Viewtiful Joe 2'' for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PS2 titles ''Ōkami'' and '' God ...

, and ''

Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and developed by PlatinumGames. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with '' Bayonetta''. Two sequels were released, ''Bayonetta 2'' (2014) and ''Bayonetta 3'' (2022), as well as a ...

'' (2009) at

PlatinumGames PlatinumGames Inc. is a Japanese video game developer that was founded in October 2007 as result of a merger between two companies, Seeds Inc. and Odd Inc. Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya founded Seeds Inc. after the closure o ...

. She now heads her own independent game studio, Unseen.

Early life

Ikumi Nakamura enjoyed horror media with her father growing up. They watched horror films together, and enjoyed playing the ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' and ''

Devil May Cry is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. Its gameplay consists o ...

'' series, both produced by Capcom. She developed an appreciation for the studio and dreamed to work there when she was older. While studying at university, her father died in a motorcycle accident. His death reinforced her desire to work at Capcom. She attended an art school in Tokyo, and later studied game design at the Amusement Media Academy.

Career

Capcom

After applying twice, Nakamura was hired by Capcom in 2004. She joined the internal development team

and created background art for ''

'' (2006).

PlatinumGames

Nakamura followed her Capcom colleagues when they left to form

. Early on at the studio, she pitched an idea for an original Nintendo DS game. After Nintendo did not take interest to the project, it was canceled. She served as a concept artist for ''

'' (2009), and briefly worked on ''

Scalebound was an action role-playing game developed by PlatinumGames from 2013 until its cancellation in 2017. It was scheduled to be released in 2017 for Xbox One and Windows, but Microsoft Studios announced its cancellation in January 2017. In the game, p ...

'' as art director before leaving the company.

Tango Gameworks

In 2010, Nakamura left PlatinumGames to join

Shinji Mikami is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. Starting his career at Capcom in 1990, he has worked on many of the company's most successful games. He directed the first installment of the ''Resident Evil'' series in 1996 and the f ...

's new studio Tango Gameworks. She served as artist for ''

'' (2014) and ''

'' (2017), and as creative director for '' Ghostwire: Tokyo''. Her presentation introducing the game at

E3 2019 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 (E3 2019) was the 25th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

was widely heralded as a highlight of the press conference for Bethesda Softworks, Tango Gameworks' parent company. However, Nakamura left the project and the company mid-development in 2019 due to her declining health. The stress of developer-publisher politics and the publisher's ultimate control over ''Ghostwire: Tokyo'' left her unable to sleep and struggling with daily nightmares.

Unseen

After leaving Tango Gameworks, Nakamura did consulting and freelance jobs. In March 2021, she announced that she had started a new small independent game studio. The studio, Unseen, was formally revealed the following year. Nakamura expressed her intent for Unseen to create new

intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(IPs) that can function across entertainment media. She also expressed her desire to continue working on games based in mystery, horror, sci-fi, and the supernatural.

Personal life

Nakamura lives in Tokyo. She had a child in 2020.

Works

References

External links

* *
Unseen Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Ikumi Women video game developers Video game artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Capcom people Japanese video game designers