Itagaki Leaving Team Ninja, Suing Tecmo

[one]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168056

The full text of the letter from Itagaki follows:

"I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year. In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

"Before the start of development on Dead or Alive 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.' In addition, he made demeaning remarks about me to my subordinates and colleagues, causing me significant emotional distress and worsening my personal relationships and work environment. Thus, I have no choice but to resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd.

"The conduct of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its president Yoshimi Yasuda towards me has been unbefitting of a publicly-listed company. I have filed this lawsuit with a strong intent to question the social responsibility of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its President Yoshimi Yasuda, as well as condemning them for their unjust acts. Today, in addition to announcing the reasons for this lawsuit, I make clear my reasons for resigning.

"To All Game Fans

"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."

 

[Arwin]

Wow. You can't make something like this up.

 

[nintenho]

If he can prove that his bosses promised him a bonus, then that would be pretty damn low of tecmo to go back on their word. I'd imagine that there would be somebody else at tecmo that knew whether he was promised a completion bonus.

edit: calculated wrong. he's suing for about 1.4 million dollars or 1 million euros. I'm sure he won't get all of that but this could get him blackballed from other game companies.

 

[PARANOiA]

If he can prove that his bosses promised him a bonus, then that would be pretty damn low of tecmo to go back on their word. I'd imagine that there would be somebody else at tecmo that knew whether he was promised a completion bonus.

edit: calculated wrong. he's suing for about 1.4 million dollars or 1 million euros. I'm sure he won't get all of that but this could get him blackballed from other game companies.

On the other hand... what do Tecmo have without Itagaki's team? I'm sure he'll get snapped up very quickly, and his games are always winners in terms of sales.

 

[DJ12]

Itagaki is over-rated, his team is where the talent lies, lets face it he's no Kojima.

If Ninja Gaiden was released on PS2, not xbox I doubt anyone would even know who he is. Lack of decent competition on the xbox really did him a huge favour.

Tecmo will still have his team, it's only Itagaki that's leaving.

 

[archangelmorph]

If he can prove that his bosses promised him a bonus, then that would be pretty damn low of tecmo to go back on their word. I'd imagine that there would be somebody else at tecmo that knew whether he was promised a completion bonus.

Unfortunately these kinds of things aren't too far from uncommon in this industry..

Practically every single dev I know or have worked with has been screwed over at some point by either senior staff or publishers..

Sad but true fact..

 

[Nesh]

Itagaki is over-rated, his team is where the talent lies, lets face it he's no Kojima.

If Ninja Gaiden was released on PS2, not xbox I doubt anyone would even know who he is. Lack of decent competition on the xbox really did him a huge favour.

Tecmo will still have his team, it's only Itagaki that's leaving.

I might have respected him a bit more if he wasnt that arrogant. He insults a lot the work of others, and he even insulted one of is colleagues once who worked on Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

 

[Droid]

I might have respected him a bit more if he wasnt that arrogant. He insults a lot the work of others, and he even insulted one of is colleagues once who worked on Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Makes you wonder if he is being "forced" to quit; indirectly slowly pushing him out.

 

[Jack_Tripper]

Wait wait - does this mean we'll never have another DOA: Beach Volleyball?

Oh my dear sweet lord -sometimes wishes do come true

Jack

 

[inefficient]

I actually doubt he will ever run a game studio again.

In Japan, his kind of behavior is not respected. I'm sure his fans in the US or elsewhere will cheer him on. But it's not like any of his staff are going to be following him out the door.

I suspect he will end up in some other industry. Maybe TV production or advertising. Those industries have a much higher tolerance of personalities like his as far as Japanese companies go.

 

[zarbaj]

Itagaki is over-rated, his team is where the talent lies, lets face it he's no Kojima.

If Ninja Gaiden was released on PS2, not xbox I doubt anyone would even know who he is. Lack of decent competition on the xbox really did him a huge favour.

Tecmo will still have his team, it's only Itagaki that's leaving.

He is the director of NG, you can hate him all you want but he made one awesome action game and i respect him for that.

besides, we don't know if any of his team will follow him.

 

[zarbaj]

I'm not into fighters but i enjoyed what i played of DOA4, pretty nice for casuals like me.

Itagaki saved Tecmo from bankrupt so this news is pretty shocking.

 

[infinity4]

He has every right to do this. I am disappointed how Tecmo has treated him like relying on him to do the job and ignoring him afterwards. DOA4 sold million copies, not bad for a launch title.

 

[Nesh]

Makes you wonder if he is being "forced" to quit; indirectly slowly pushing him out.

Thats what I suspect too. He doesnt look like the kind of guy that others would like working with. He attributes any accomplishment to himself probably too and he is too arrogant. I am sure many might have complained about him and lets not forget the sexual harassment hid did to one of his female colleagues. Such attitude and being arrogant is totally against the working culture of the Japanese I think. Probably someone who knows better can tell us if its true. I think modesty and humbleness is a virtue in Japan.

 

[zarbaj]

Thats what I suspect too. He doesnt look like the kind of guy that others would like working with. He attributes any accomplishment to himself probably too and he is too arrogant. I am sure many might have complained about him and lets not forget the sexual harassment hid did to one of his female colleagues. Such attitude and being arrogant is totally against the working culture of the Japanese I think. Probably someone who knows better can tell us if its true. I think modesty and humbleness is a virtue in Japan.

he was proven innocent of that charge, in court.

as for Sigma, read this:

Itagaki: No, I won't be doing a Sigma or any other kind of edition, in fact Sigma as you may know I wasn't involved with, it was another person at Tecmo that worked on that, and looking at that, I say it felt like they took what I made four years ago and just kind of added toppings on, and it was almost like this weird chimera of a game - one thing here, one thing there. From a game design standpoint I don't think it worked well at all. So, this is the definitive version of Ninja Gaiden as far as I'm concerned. Ninja Gaiden Sigma was a little too serious considering that it was a young kid that was in charge of that project.

http://games.kikizo.com/features/itagaki_iv_jun08_p2.asp

he is right, Hayashi did few things right and a lot of things wrong.

and if you read the 1up link, they say he was against Tecmo's decision to milk the franchise, they are also porting Rygar PS2 to the wii without changing much just for profit.

 

[cthellis42]

Whoa... He even quits in grandiose manner!


I wonder if he'll be picked up by Namco and tapped for Tekken 7.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Wait wait - does this mean we'll never have another DOA: Beach Volleyball?

Oh my dear sweet lord -sometimes wishes do come true

Jack

I... I love you, man!

 

[vazel]

Nowhere near as good as God of War? Wow are your gaming sensibilities wacked. In presentation very few games match God of War but when it comes to gameplay Ninja Gaiden has a better fighting engine and the AI in Ninja Gaiden is really good. I can understand when someone prefers GoW over NG for its better presentation but there is no denying NG has a better fighting engine.

 

[AlNom]

President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'

What a guy... he's going out with a double whammy

Itagaki may trash other developers, but I've always seen it as just over the top humour for the fans. If he stays in the industry, I would be surprised if he doesn't sign on with Microsoft in some manner.

"Ninja Gaiden" is a Tecmo property, correct? Is it the same for the DoA series?

 

[zarbaj]

Itagaki created DOA, he only revived NG on the Xbox.

both are Tecmo property but since he made DOA, i would imagine he can take it back via a lawsuit.