Ikumi Nakamura

Submission 46,914

About

Ikumi Nakamura is a game developer and artist who works as the Creative Director for Tango Gameworks. She entered the public eye after her memorable E3 2019 presentation for GhostWire: Tokyo.

History

Nakamura entered the games industry as a background designer for Okami. ^[1] She originally worked for Clover Studios and Platinum Games, working as the conceptual designer for Bayonetta, before joining Tango Gameworks as the Apprentice game director under famed Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami.^[2] There, she has served as lead concept artist for The Evil Within.

2019 E3 Presentation

On June 9th, 2019, Nakamura introduced GhostWire: Tokyo, an upcoming game from Tango Gameworks. Her presentation struck viewers as genuine^[3] and adorable,^[4] and her presentation quickly became a favorite moment for many watching E3 that day.

After her presentation, social media users professed strong feelings towards Nakamura. Several said they would "die" for her. For example, Twitter user @snugechol^[5] said that, gaining over 740 retweets and 1,800 likes (shown below, left). User @DatConquistador^[6] did the same, gaining over 70 retweets and 320 likes (shown below, right). Polygon^[3] ran a story on her with the headline highlighting how the internet would "die" for her.

Fan art of Nakamura also followed the presentation. Twitter user @FangQnQ^[7] posted art that gained over 330 retweets and 1,600 likes (shown below, left). User @SirSilverStudio^[8] also posted fan art which gained over 50 retweets and 400 likes (shown below, right).