Resident Evil creator joins Bethesda

Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, continues to expand its talent pool. Shinji Mikami, creator of the “Resident Evil” franchise, has joined the publisher as part of Zenimax’s acquisition of his Tango Gameworks development house.

It’s the latest in a series of big moves for the company, which in the last year has acquired Arkane Studios and id Software and picked up $150 million in venture capital investments.

Tango will continue to be based in Tokyo and Mikami will be creative lead for all future projects. He’s a proven hitmaker in the industry, with five games scoring 90 or higher on Metacritic.com and Gamerankings.com.

Beyond his work on “Resident Evil,” Mikami contributed to several other popular Capcom titles, including “Viewtiful Joe” and “Devil May Cry.” He was also executive producer on “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”.

He left Capcom in 2005 to go freelance. Most recently, he finished up work on “Vanquish” – a Sega title that released earlier this month. To date, Tango has not announced what its first game will be, but Mikami has previously talked about his desire to make a “true 3D horror game” that uses stereoscopic 3D. That might indicated a PS3 title – or something for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.