Recently, we saw an increased amount of activity from brand new studio UNBOUND – a team founded by industry legend Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame. While details surrounding Mikami’s new endeavour remain light, studio SHIFT UP (the team behind the excellent Stellar Blade) have officially announced that they have acquired the studio as part of a brand new partnership.

Making the surprise announcement via a teaser video (and expanded upon via a press release), SHIFT UP CEO Hyung-Tae Kim revealed that they have “completed the acquisition of Japanese game developer UNBOUND Inc. by acquiring all of its shares.”

While talk surrounding studio acquisitions in today’s day and age does come with some concern (especially with publishers being so trigger-happy to shut down studios), a partnership between SHIFT UP and UNBOUND could serve to benefit both companies.

As mentioned, SHIFT UP is known best for having created the PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade, however the team have also seen long-term success through a number of their gacha endeavours (most notably the Nikke series).

Given that SHIFT UP is a relatively small and new publisher, such an acquisition – serving more as a partnership – could benefit both teams massively. Unfortunately, we still know very little regarding Mikami’s next project, with the only details shared so far being that it is “developing original PC and console-based IPs targeting the global market”. Here’s to hoping that this latest acquisition proves to be a net-positive across the board.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this announcement? Is SHIFT UP a good home for Mikami and co? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Back in early 2023, prior to the shutdown of Tango Gameworks, studio founder and industry legend Shinji Mikami announced that he would be departing from the studio. Fortunately, by October of the same year Mikami was back to work on a new project. While details have remained light so far, new job listings have shined some light on Mikami and new studio Unbound’s plans.

As recently discovered by users, Shinji Mikami’s new studio, Unbound, has gone live with its website. Currently, the site itself does not discuss their on-going work, however it does reveal exactly when the company was established (May 2023) and the many different games which staff have worked on previously, including but not limited to:

• Silent Hill Series
• Resident Evil Series
• Devil May Cry
• Sonic Series
• Killer7
• Dead Rising Series
• Dinocrisis Series
• Onimusha series
• Viewtiful Joe Series
• Shadow of the Colossus

Based on the line-up, Unbound’s talent pool appears to be ‘unbounded’ with devs coming together from the likes of Capcom; SEGA; and Konami among other Japanese studios.

As discovered by VGC, recent job listings have offered some early details on what’s currently in the works, with Unbound said to be (according to the publication) “developing a high-end original IP project powered by Unreal Engine 5 for PS5, Xbox, and PC,” with “aspirations to work on smaller-scale titles concurrently in the future.”

Shinji Mikami is best known for his work in the horror genre, and so many expect that Unbound’s first project will be of the spooky kind. That said, the creator has embraced variety in recent years, and so it will be exciting to learn about whatever is currently in the works.

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KitGuru says: Are you excited for Mikami’s new venture? Would you like him to stay in the horror scene? Let us know down below.