Itagaki Leaving Tecmo, also a Slap in the Face
- Scribbled on June 3rd, 2008 by Jonathon Howard
- Filed in Industry News
The long-time head of Team Ninja and creator of the Dead or Alive fighting games, Tomonobu Itagaki is leaving Japanese publisher Tecmo, where he not only lead development on several games but served on the Board of Directors. Whatever the ultimate cause of the split, it doesn’t appear to have been an amicable one. Itagaki has accused the President of Tecmo, Yoshima Yasuda, of not paying bonuses as promised and demeaning Itagaki in front of his co-workers and subordinates. Itagaki complaining about being trashed talked to is funny in its own right as Itagaki is famous for his harsh commentary on video games not made by him. Itagaki has now sued Yasuda in a Tokyo District Court for 148 million yen ($1.4 million).
On a personal note I can’t say I care much, Itagaki has always come off as a pretentious prick to me. One who thought that because his games were difficult they were great. His argument that can only be taken so far, I imagine sticking your head up your own ass is very difficult too; I don’t imagine it’s that much fun though… Ninja Gaiden is attractive to a certain subset of gamers who enjoy a high level of difficulty, that’s fine. To pretend that your audience is “better” in some sense because of their preference is not fine though. People come to game from a variety of backgrounds and an almost infinite number of reasons, being belittled for their game choices isn’t one of them. Itagaki might be a genius and a great game developer, he doesn’t seem like much of a nice guy though, and this? This seems like karma to me.
(Thanks, GamaSutra.)
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Lovers of cartoon breast bouncing mourn the loss of Itagaki, and dread the maturation of gaming. Meanwhile, lawyers everywhere feel the loss of income from Itagaki’s sexual harrassment suits.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
[...] Tomonobu Itagaki’s angry announcement yesterday that he was leaving Tecmo and suing them to boot over unpaid bonuses and an unfriendly work [...]
June 5th, 2008 at 1:18 am
He always seemed like an ass to me, regardless of how good he was… I kinda hope he doesn’t get a new job or he gets one at a super straight laced company, where becomes just another face in the crowd, robbed of his “individuality”
June 5th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
You’re one sorry excuse of a journalist. Have you ever met the guy in person and talked to him? His remarks are rarely personal and I’m guessing the image you have of him is one solely based upon impressions of others.
It’s quite refreshing to see someone who’s honest about who he is and what he stands for.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Wait. Have you? The man put himself into the public, he acted a certain way and said certain things. Now I can’t judge him based on those? How does that make any sense?
June 16th, 2008 at 3:16 am
[...] we already reported, Tomonobu Itagaki the head of Team Ninja and re-creator of Ninja Gaiden, left Tecmo under less than optimal circumstances. Itagaki was so unhappy about it that he’s suing the [...]
August 20th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
[...] rumors: Tomonobu Itagaki. The head of Team Ninja sure created a mess for Tecmo when he decided to leave the company and then sue [...]
October 12th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
[...] Itagaki Leaving Tecmo, also a Slap in the Face [...]