If that happens it can work. But I simply cant imagine him work on existing projects or take orders on what kind of game he should make
The more independence the greater for Itagaki.
Itagaki Leaving Team Ninja, Suing Tecmo
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If that happens it can work. But I simply cant imagine him work on existing projects or take orders on what kind of game he should make
The more independence the greater for Itagaki.
Three dozen? That would have to hurt. Good for them - and Itagaki - though, if they were denied what they were due, more power to them.
Good lord, it looks like Tecmo's upper management has been playing fast and loose with their employees and investors.
Wonder why the hell would they do that. They can't possibly be having cash flow problems that they would resort to doing dirty tricks like this.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168238
The article is confusing it with a shareholder derivative suit, there's no such regulation for a case like Itagaki's.1up said:
Microsoft had a studio in Japan but they were laid off AFAIK. In addition to that, the Japanese branch of Microsoft is one of the most prestigious IT companies in Japan, I doubt they hire Itagaki who had a scandalous case or even contract with him in fear of hurting the business relationship with Tecmo.
archangelmorph
Veteran
Bar MS's UK-based studios which seem pretty stable to me..
archangelmorph
Veteran
They were basically sent to work with AQ interactive(Feelplus, Cavia and Artoon). Microsoft was responsible for the creation of Feelplus and many Microsoft employees were sent to work there. I still believe unless stated otherwise from a credible source that Microsoft was at least in part reponsible for setting AQ interactive up. I see him somehow ending up under the umbrella of AQ interactive...unless Microsoft wants to revive MGSJ. If so maybe they might get things right this time around.
"A few DOA & Ninja Gaiden titles" are titles that represent what Itagaki could produce, if they don't matter much how much is Itagaki worth for MS? I don't see why MS has to run the risk here. I see Tecmo's competitor pick Itagaki (though not before the lawsuit ends), but MS, being a platform holder, is less likely.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Maybe they thought they'd could get away with it. Trusting their employees loyality (something they apperently dont care much about when it comes to their employees). Somebody obviously misjudged that one...
I'm not that suprised so many people leaving though. It happend more the last few years with (key) japanese devs leaving (or being fired/studio closed) the big company and starting for themselves taking large parts of their teams with them. Ofcourse, its not that suprising when you think about it. The key members have made their name so they will probably have less problems getting funds and ofcourse they would like to work with the people they know as they know what they can expect out of them. Sticking with a big name seems like the better choice than sticking with a big company.
Not sure this was brought up but I stole this from Wiki because I couldn't remember what type of position he held just before the whole sexual harassment suit but I does seem that he was very high up in the ranks at Tecmo not only as head of Team Ninja. It seems at the time that he was a person that the company put a great deal of faith into. I wonder how this will effect the relationship between Tecmo and Microsoft because DOA and Blue Dragon are the only "success" stories Microsoft has in Japan in relation to the Xbox brand. Without DOA it will be even harder next time Microsoft gives Japan a go.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Given how little the total impact of DOA makes for the x360 in Japan it doesnt really matter if they have it or not.
Hi - would you mind elaborating on this? Do you mean through "social standing" a la Google is in the US and Europe?
Possibly Itagaki and his team could work in a 2nd party environment for MS if they want him, but he certainly seems to like being something of a free bird. He made great looking games for PS1, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and 360. That's quite a variety of hardware, and he seems to like jumping on the next "it" machine.
Dominik D
Regular
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1459/ray_tracing_a_japanese_game_.php?print=1
From Ray Nakazato:
"I joined Microsoft when they were getting ready for the Xbox 360. That was recently, in 2004. We started six projects at Microsoft Game Studios Japan. The first one we finished and released was called Every Party, with Yoshiki Okamoto at Game Republic. The second one was Ninety-Nine Nights, with Tetsuya Mizuguchi. I was actually in Korea for about a year to fix this project."
"Did you start Feelplus?
No...well Microsoft and Hayao Nakayama, who founded AQ Interactive (also ex Sega boss), discussed it. Lost Odyssey was once an internal (Microsoft) project that was done by my staff anyway, but it wasn't going well. One of the reasons it wasn't going well was because it was an internal project, and Microsoft’s culture and systems made it harder – we couldn’t go smoothly.
That's when we decided to make our team an independent studio, and I asked Mr. Nakayama to found the company. I then moved in several Microsoft people into that studio, and also hired a good number of people into that studio. Mr. Nakayama and I, on behalf of Microsoft Japan, discussed starting up a company, but it was originally ma"
I think it's a little bit more complicated, but it's fairly safe to assume MS had some involvement in creating AQ. My guess would be that MS work culture doesn't fit perfectly with game development (which would also explain Bungie departure). The next best thing MS can get is some sort of high level involvement with the process with the overal development flow closer to what game developers expect.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17559
Yep, add that Cavia, Artoon and Feelplus at the time of the company's formation had been working on projects for Microsoft or the Xbox 360(Cavia doing Bullet Witch and currently doing Cry on) makes me more certain of this considering that at least 2 of the studios had heavy involvement with MGSJ.
Yep, add that Cavia, Artoon and Feelplus at the time of the company's formation had been working on projects for Microsoft or the Xbox 360(Cavia doing Bullet Witch and currently doing Cry on) makes me more certain of this considering that at least 2 of the studios had heavy involvement with MGSJ.
