Pikmin design working on Nintendo’s new IP

The designer behind Nintendo’s quirky strategy series Pikmin is apparently hard at work on a new IP for the platform holder.

That’s according to a Twitter post by Tekken’s Katsuhiro Harada. When a fan asked Harada if Abe, who also previously worked on Tekken 2, had retired, Harada revealed that the designer had returned to Nintendo. 

He is in Nintendo Kyoto now. working on some Nintendo original title RT@2Andrin what happened to Masamichi Abe? Is he retired?

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) November 26, 2013

The tweet was spotted by Polygon, which reports that Abe had previously moved away from Japan after his work on GameCube title Pikmin 2.

He has since been working at Nintendo’s Seattle office, helping to develop titles such as Metroid Prime: Hunters and Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again.

There is no word on what this new IP could be, nor which platform it is being developed for. In recent years, Nintendo has experimented with new IP on its digital eShop marketplace, releasing titles like Pullblox and Dillon’s Rolling Western, while most of its retail releases have been based on established franchises such as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon.