Shift Up just acquired Unbound Studios. If you don’t know who these two studios are, Shift Up is the company behind Nikke and Stellar Blade. Unbound Studios was founded by Shinji Mikami, the creator and father of the Resident Evil games. This union holds some kind of promise for future games.
What is this all about?
It’s very straightforward. Unbound was bought by Shift Up. This means that Unbound Studios is based in Tokyo, and Shift Up will publish all games created by Unbound. Just to keep your expectations on a level, just because Shinji Mikami is now working for Shift Up, this doesn’t mean that he can use the IP that he created. Nikke did have a collaboration with Resident Evil last year, but Mikami had nothing to do with that.
What is Shift Up?
Shift Up is known for the successful Stellar Blade game and the gigantic gacha game Nikke. Nikke rakes in millions of dollars every month, pumping up Shift Up’s financial growth. However, they did start from somewhere before becoming a successful company now. Shift Up was founded back in 2013 by Kim Hyung-Tae, who is an artist for numerous games back in the mid-2000s. A good example is from the PS2 game Magna Carta, released in 2004.
Shift Up’s first major project was Destiny Child, released in 2016. The game quickly stood out for its use of Live2D animation, giving characters fluid, expressive movement rarely seen at the time in mobile titles. It blended gacha mechanics with narrative-driven gameplay, appealing to both collectors and story-focused players. While its monetization model followed typical gacha structures, the game’s presentation and artistic direction helped it carve out a strong niche in a competitive market. Then, the rest is history with Nikke popping up and Stellar Blade.
Who is Shinji Mikami?
Shinji Mikami started out with a lot of those Disney games under Capcom’s leadership. Mikami’s career changed dramatically with the release of Resident Evil on the PlayStation. As director, he helped define what would become the survival horror genre. The game combined limited resources, fixed camera angles, puzzle-solving, and a constant sense of tension. Its success was massive, both critically and commercially, and it established Capcom as a major force in horror gaming. Mikami would go on to supervise or direct several entries in the series, shaping its identity for years.
In 2010, Mikami founded Tango Gameworks, a new studio focused on high-quality game development. Under this banner, he returned to his horror roots with The Evil Within. The game blended classic survival horror elements with modern design, reflecting both his past work and evolving industry trends. Its sequel, The Evil Within 2, further refined these ideas and expanded the studio’s reputation. Mikami’s work speaks for itself with a list of popular titles below.
List of Notable Shinji Mikami Games
- Aladdin
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil 2
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
- Resident Evil Code: Veronica
- Resident Evil 4
- Dino Crisis
- Devil May Cry
- P.N.03
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All
- God Hand
- Viewtiful Joe
- Killer 7
- Shadows of the Damned
- Vanquish
- The Evil Within
- The Evil Within 2
- Ghostwire Tokyo
- Hi-Fi Rush
What will be in store for the future?
Knowing that Shift Up will be very trusting of its workers, we can expect some good and quality games from this union. There is also this creature we saw in the trailer (posted above). Whether this leads to a game or not, we can’t say.
