The last time I ran into Team Ninja head man and Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki, he was a happy son of a bitch. He had new games lined up, his army of scantily clad girls in tow, and his sunglasses were shinier than ever. Not so much today, though. In fact, he seems a bit angry.
1Up has the low down on the story of Itagaki's departure from Team Ninja. It seems that he is suing Tecmo for unpaid bonuses, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. Itagaki's aide Andrew Szymanski sent along a statement from his boss, which also said that Itagaki will resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd. on July 1st.
The dispute is over an unpaid bonus for the Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360. Itagaki was promised a payment after completition, but never saw that. He says that his boss told him to either quit or sue if he was unhappy with this.
Itagaki also sends along an apology to you, dear gamer:
"I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. Ninja Gaiden 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last Ninja Gaiden I will create. I will also never be able to make Dead or Alive 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans. However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so. I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future."
What do you think of all of this? Do you think Itagaki will be alright?
Contest:
9:44 AM on 06.03.2008
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I wonder where he'll go... one thing's for certain: Tecmo will dearly miss him. He basically kept that company on profits for the past decade or so.
Oh well, more publicity for NG2, which comes out TODAY.
In all sincerity, this is a surprise considering how big of a cog he was in Tecmo. If Microsoft was smart, they'd swipe him up with an exclusivity contract in a hearbeat. Not only is Itagaki one of the few Japanese developers who actually likes the 360, he's also got enough of a base in the country to spur console sales with a newly-developed exclusive. Just a thought.
Also, there goes Dead or Alive Code Cronus and Project Progressive, two games Itagaki had ideas for.
Kind of sad to see a Japanese company mimicking the business style of the good ole U.S. of A. I wonder how much money will be wasted just trying to get the money, or even worse to not get any at all?
He's not the original creator of Ninja Gaiden for NES.
I'm sure Itagaki's boss is a total scumbag that deserves murder. His boss probably thinks he can push him around and just make someone else create the game. Though who would want to work for someone like that?
Where the hell is my Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball 3 going to come through? I collected all of the swimsuits in both 1, and 2. Dammit.
Also, where does the rest of dtoid see this man going? Sony's out of the question (the man hates them), and loves Microsoft, possibly a small dev team that's published by Microsoft? Sega? I know he had great relations with Sega back in the Saturn/Dreamcast days...
He said ninja gaiden sigma for the PS3 was trash. It may have been a remake, but it was awesome. To play in 1080p with new weapons. And for people that didnt have a xbox it was great.
He needs to chill, and look at maybe some of the things he does causes some of his problems. But i think his head is to big to realize.
Imagine if Capcom rose to the occasion? Imagine if he worked on Devil May Cry . . . imagine the state of Trish's boobs in that vision of the future.
Itagaki is now free to bring his unique vision of breast-centric gameplay to other venues. The world is his.
In any case, I'm glad that Itagaki will be forced to move on from DOA. It's not like there was some sort of compelling narrative going on in that series that is going to suffer without him. And hopefully it'll mean no more DOAX games. It should be interesting to see what he comes up with on his own.
lol what a selfish prick, he made those games by himself he thinks? he really thinks they need him xD
I hope I'll never hear about him again... I never liked those shitty glasses of his anyways..
Whenever I see a picture of that guys ugly mug, it makes me think of JP from Grandma's Boy.
"Please, sit on my face!"
I doubt MS is gonna pursue Itagaki with setting up a studio around him. I just don't think that they have that intention. It would be cool to see his take on Killer Instinct though.
he seem to think otherwise...
"Itagaki mentions that he intends for his next game to be "a brand new action game" that will be violent like Ninja Gaiden."
@The Wrath
Yeah I was starting to feel a little sorry for him, then I remembered that sexual harassment case...he's probably one of those guys who uses the PSP camera for upskirt pics.
Fame is a funny thing. It's hard to feel sympathy for a rich person who's quitting his job over MORE money. It does sound unfair though.
You say that his nose being in the air is any different than Kojima, whom you seem to be a fan of. Please, tell me- Has Kojima ever come up with an original idea? Snatcher (which is his child) is a complete rip-off of the movie Blade-Runner, and Metal-Gear Solid wreaks of pretty much every other US Action flick he could get his hands on (Snake's name is lifted from Snake Plissken, and even his character design to an extent). Itagaki has done some great things with his franchises, and I'll be completely honest- has struck me as a more creative person than Kojima, whom seems to think that I'm going to choke down an hour and a half of cinematics in MGS4.
Once again people, this man's ego isn't anything out of the ordinary, and at least he's upfront about it. Kojima is as much of an ass as Itagaki is.
If I was Itagaki, I'd contact Sega and see whether he can recreate the Shinobi series for them (something that's sorely needed for Sega, and would be a nice challenger to Ninja Gaiden). That would really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
I'll look forward to what great games Itagaki will make in the future, as I'm sure he's far from done with making games.
mgs is an rip off..... seriously..?
how many other games are like mgs?.. what sam fisher.. that's not really that close....
now count how many ninja gaiden like games are out there...
those tricks saltos and body part ripping games...
c'mon.. let's be serious..
about his ego.. I don't like fake people..
be yourself not someone you saw in matrix movie xD ...
As someone pointed out, are there any Tecmo games in recent years that has been hyped without him involved in some form? I can't recall any.
On a lighter note, he just might be the man to develop the world's first anti-gravity thingamabob. Those bewbs defy the laws of physics. Apply the computations they used in their graphics engine and voila!!!
This is sad news, but I hope MS scoops him up, gives him a fat wad of cash and has him create some new IP for them. A 1st party fighting game, and action game are just the the doctor ordered for Microsoft. Who better to lead the team that makes them?
One theory is that he may have felt some loyalty to the company that kept him from leaving, but this slight eventually wore away at him until he couldn't take it anymore. If that's the case, I can certainly sympathize.
We can only guess at the truth, though. Is Itagaki telling the full story? Did President Yasuda withhold the bonus simply out of spite? Does the sexual harassment thing have anything to do with it? We don't know.