People were understandably surprised when Capcom closed down Clover Studios, makers of games such as God Hand and Okami for the PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, sales for the games (despite the critical acclaim for Okami) were lacklustre and the decision was made as a cost- cutting measure.
However, some of the developers from this have formed a new development studio, Seeds. Currently in their ranks are Directors Hideki Kamiya (Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe and Okami) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and RE4) along with Nao Ueda, Mari Shimazaki, and Masami Ueda (all of whom were on the team that brought us Okami). They will be based in Osaka, Japan and under the reins of Atsushi Inaba, the former president of Clover Studios.
No word on any projects in development yet but they are hiring for various positions now. If Okami is anything to go by we can expect some interesting stuff from them.