in 2006 Okami launched to great fanfare and instant cult status, leaving its fans hoping and then longing for a sequel. If Okami’s environmental designer Ikumi Nakamura and Director Hideki Kamiya aren’t spinning a tall tale fan’s long wait will soon come to an end, as a sequel is already in development at Platinum Games.
Ikumi Nakamura — after departing from Tango Gamerworks and her dream job as creative director on her passion project Ghostwire — has been touring several development studios. It isn’t confirmed she will return to Platinum Games where she worked from 2006 to 2010, but she has released a short video with Hideki Kamiya teasing the project’s development. Before expressing her desire to work on the sequel in a follow up tweet.
Okami is going to be back! We want to make Okami sequel and fans are looking forward to it too. You guys want to see Kamiya’s Okami again, right, everyone? I want to work on it too! 大神をまた作りたい私たちです。 @CapcomUSA_ @OKAMI_CAP pic.twitter.com/bLwuGnTew1
- Ikumi Nakamura (@nakamura193) 18 oktober 2019
“Okami is going to be back! We want to make Okami sequel and fans are looking forward to it too. You guys want to see Kamiya’s Okami again, right, everyone? I want to work on it too! 大神をまた作りたい私たちです。@CapcomUSA_@OKAMI_CAP"
“I want to see simply great games and games that gamers want to play be developed. I don’t understand budgets and politics. I just want to continue to be a creator that can say that great things are great. #Okami is one of those that have the power to overcome all of that.”
It is interesting that she would mention politics in the second tweet as that is the much cited reason for her departure from Bethesda whom have been inserting progressive narratives in all their releases as of late. Budget is less a mysterious reference as Bethesda is known to utilize withholding money citing budget and design milestone issues in order to strong arm studios into compliance. Short of an exposé this is likely the closest we will come to finding out what transpired leading up to her departure.
In better news, the above video sees her happily laughing with Kamiya after stating emphatically Okami is coming back. Leading further credence to this happening is Capcom’s own 2019 integrated report wherein they state their aim is to re-utilize dormant franchises for both re-releases, remakes, and new games.
“Verder verwachten we, met betrekking tot remakes en heruitgaven van titels in onze backcatalogus, deze verder te onderzoeken met een verscheidenheid aan eigenschappen als onderdeel van onze strategie om onze bibliotheek met IP te gebruiken.”
“The most exciting bit for fans though is Capcom’s three-point plan for the future, which is to 1. strengthen digital sales, 2. increase the length of support for existing titles, and 3. ‘awaken dormant intellectual properties’.”
Few titles have enjoyed the wide spread adoption that Okami has. Capcom has released the title on nearly every platform since its creation and it can be now be played on PS3, PS4, Pc, Nintendo Switch and Wii. Without a doubt if the title has received so much love in re-releases it will be one of the first reactivated dormant IPs for the company going forward.
