Games Published by Notable People after leaving a Company
I don't know much about developers, writing, composers, or anything similar towards games or movies. I know that's pretty ignorant of me so I'm trying to learn. That's why I made this list, the idea seems interesting and I learn more about people in game development. Win-Win!
21 Games
Yoshio Kiya (creator of Dragon Slayer, Xanadu, The Legend of Heroes, and many others) after leaving Falcom in 1993
Hideo Kojima (creator of Metal Gear, Policenauts, Snatcher, Zone of the Enders, and many more) after splitting from Konami in 2015
Kotaro Uchikoshi (creator of the Zero Escape series, AI: The Somnium Files series, Punch Line, and more) after leaving KID in 2001
Kazutaka Kodaka (creator of the Danganronpa series) left Spike Chunsoft to make his own studio called Too Kyo Games in 2017
Shouzou Kaga (creator of Fire Emblem series up until Thracia 776) left Intelligent Systems in 1999 and founded the independent studio Tirnanog
Keiji Inafune (creator of Mega Man, Dead Rising, Lost Planet) after leaving Capcom in 2010, and later founded his own companies Comcept and Intercept
Koji Igarashi (creator of the Castlevania series) after leaving Konami in 2014 to become the co-founder of Artplay
Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy series) after he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004
Yuji Naka (creator of the Sonic series up until Sonic Adventure, Burning Rangers, Nights into Dreams, and Phantasy Star Online) after leaving Sega in 2006 to found the independent game company Prope.
Developed by Playtonic Games, a group of former key personnel from Rare
Some members of the staff from the Shin Megami Tensei series were involved in the game's development
Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson (Worked on Fallout 1 & 2) were unable to come to an agreement with Interplay so they decided to leave Interplay and form Troika Games on April 1, 1998.
Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan and Chris Jones (worked on Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, and Baldur's Gate II) left Interplay Entertainment's subsidiary Black Isle Studios in 2003 and founded Obsidian Entertainment.
Grant Collier, Jason West, and Vince Zampella (Worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, SiN: Wages of Sin, and Men of Valor) after working at 2015, Inc. previously. In 2002, they established Infinity Ward.
Keiichiro Toyama (graphic designer and character designer for the Sega CD version of Snatcher & International Track & Field, and the Silent Hill series) left Team Silent in 1999 to join Japan Studio.
Keiichiro Toyama (creator of Silent Hill, Siren 1, 2, & Blood Curse and Gravity Rush 1 & 2) left Sony Japan Studio in September 2020 and founded Bokeh Game Studio on August 13, 2020.
Kim Swift (developed Narbacular Drop, leader and level designer for Portal, and played a leading role in development for Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2) left Valve in December 2009 to join Airtight Games.
Hideki Kamiya (director of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Ōkami) left Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio to founded PlatinumGames in 2006.
Raphaël Colantonio (was the founder and for 18 years president of Arkane Studios as well as being the creative director on several of Arkane's titles) left Arkane Studio in June 2017 to form WolfEye Studios in November 2019.
Shinji Mikami (directed Resident Evil 1 Dino Crisis 1, God Hand, Vanquish, Resident Evil 1 Remake, and Resident Evil 4) founded his own studio Tango Gameworks in 2010.
Goichi Suda (directed and developed Killer7, Fire Pro Wrestling series, Twilight Syndrome series, No More Heroes series, and Lollipop Chainsaw) had left Human Entertainment along with a few other staff members to found Grasshopper Manufacture in 1998
12 Comments
Does 'Mighty Number Nine' by Kenji Imagine (creator of Mega Man, Dead Rising, Lost Planet) after he left Capcom count?
Also 'Bloodstained' by Koji Igarashi (Castlevania Symphony of the Night) after he left Konami
More the same games with different names but both well known.
Also 'Bloodstained' by Koji Igarashi (Castlevania Symphony of the Night) after he left Konami
More the same games with different names but both well known.
I wish I could edit, it's Keiji Inafune. My phone autocorrected...
Blue Dragon was the first game by Mist Walker after Hironobu Sakaguchi & friends left Square, Let's Catch/Let's Tap were the first games by Prope after Yuji Naka & friends left SEGA's Sonic Team (though Prope is still funded by SEGA so it might be a little too murky for this list), then of course Yooka-Laylee by a metric tonne (for our British players) of ex-Rareware employees.
@FallenGrace @Funbil Yes, these are perfect. Thanks!
I'd say Troika's entire library fits here (probably Arcanum tho) as Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson (the OG Fallout guys) left Interplay/Black Isle during the early development of Fallout 2. I think Knights of the Old Republic 2 sorta qualifies too because it was Obsidian's first game which was founded by ex-Black Isle devs.
The founders of Respawn (Titanfall, Apex and Star Wars Fallen Order) also founded Infinty Ward (one of the main Call of Duty studios).
Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) making The Evil Within and founding Tango Gameworks
Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry, Okami) later funded along other Capcom members Platinum Games (Their first game was Madworld but the most notable of that era was Bayonetta).
Keichiro Toyama (Silent Hill, Siren and Gravity Rush) currently making Slitterhead at Bokeh
And finally, Kim Swift (key member at developing Portal) later made a similar puzzle game called Quantum Conudrum.
Those are the ones that come to mind right now
Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) making The Evil Within and founding Tango Gameworks
Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry, Okami) later funded along other Capcom members Platinum Games (Their first game was Madworld but the most notable of that era was Bayonetta).
Keichiro Toyama (Silent Hill, Siren and Gravity Rush) currently making Slitterhead at Bokeh
And finally, Kim Swift (key member at developing Portal) later made a similar puzzle game called Quantum Conudrum.
Those are the ones that come to mind right now
I believe Arkane Studios co-founder and former president Raphael Colantonio left the studio in 2017 due to wanting more creative freedom, promptly founding indie studio Wolfeye in 2019 and developing Weird West, released in 2022 and published by Devolver Digital.
The Silver Case was made after Suda51 had left Human Entertainment after the release of Moonlight Syndrome
@Roguelike Thanks! It's been added.
LoreW001
10 months ago