Ninja Gaiden II director Itagaki quits Tecmo

I think it's Bull**** that Tecmo would do this to their biggest director of their hit titles, even if he's a little arrogant. They're making a big mistake... But I'll bet we'll hear from their side of the story soon...

Tecmo is done.

Well... @$#%!

itagaki is a great developer who just happens have an ego to go with it. he bashed other games, tecmo, and the director of sigma. you cant bash your company so its no wonder his boss told him to quit. he was clearly a fanboy of xbox, who hated multi-platform games. the boss of tecmo wanted to go multi, its a business, they are loyal to consumers, not the creator. He also had a sexual harrasment case too, hes just alot of trouble and now he is unemployed. that sex case cost tecmo ALOT. I love his games, but doax2 and gaiden were a little bland, his work was slipping and early reviews of gaiden2 are good but not great. lot of camera and balancing issues. bottom line is watch what you say, and dont burn your bridges. they are gonna have a strong counter suit against him for sabatoge, likely just settle. it doesnt look good for itagaki. All interviews are available online, check out his quotes, he dug himself deep.Its called TEAM NINJA, not team itagaki.

This is sad news. He's not the best-mannered person in the world, but that's what made him truly awesome. A few years ago in an issue of EGM he said he was interested in making games for the DS because his daughter was a huge Nintendo fan. Maybe we might see him over at the big N, maybe not. Honestly I think for devs this is a big chance to get in contact with him. One of the greats is just sitting there with no company attached to his name as of current. Nobody should let this chance pass them by. I only hope the best for Itagaki.

This is actually a great opportunity for Itagaki to stick it to Tecmo. He should come out with an epic game next, shutting up Tecmo and making them curl into fetal positions and sucking on their thumbs. What a way to diss the director of great games like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, by stiffing him his paycheck. They sound like a bunch of snobs to me. Itagaki did the right thing. This could be a huge career move for the better, even though he's already a well-known producter. I already pre-ordered and paid-in-full NG2, even though this may very well be the last NG game. I hope he crosses over to Capcom. That would be amazing.

....No... DOA 5? .... *cries tears of sepreme sadness* Why god...!? WHY!? It was JUST getting good! Dead or alive finally moves into the area of "worth my money" fight games, and out of Dog crap on a disc... and now it's ENDING!?

He's a good designer, he'll get another job for sure. Maybe with Namco where he can work on Tekken... NOT.

I'd like to see square pick him up. They could use his action expertise. Put him and one of their great RPG devs together and you'd get some phenomenal action RPG games.

Oh man, that is terrible. "Dead or Alive" is such a great series of games.

"Hopefully MS can pick him up, but sadly MS doesn't have a robust Japanese team for him" Not true M$ had no difficulty in supplying Mistwalker with Japanese development teams for Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, as both these games were not developed internally by Mistwalker. I gotta love this guy's honesty, Most other times when a Japanese game designer has a split with the company they usually cover up their reason like Sakaguchi and Matsuno's splits with sqare-enix, but this guy just comes out and slams Tecmo. I guess right about now Tecmo is begining to regret calling Itagaki's bluff.

This is bad news, its to bad he could not stay around

Huh.... Well thats interesting. The interesting thing about the wording though is that it makes it sound like there'll never be a DOA 5 or another Ninja Gaiden, but depending on the fine points of copyright law and various contracts someone else could take over those projects. I'm not sure about Ninja Gaiden, but can it be that hard to find someone else of skill who wants to make a fighting game featuring bouncy busty women?

Itagaki son was Tecmo. I sympathize with him about giving up on the franchises he help make. I hope he will be able to end up in a situation where he can keep making great titles.

Wow. He didn't even beat around the bush. He just came straight out with his reasons for quitting.

i dont think Itagaki is the kind of person nintendo would hire for a game, dispite nintendo saying it would support more raited m games, the only noteable ones are manhunt 2 and no more heros which havnt moved nearly as many copies as they would have on a 360 or ps3 version. The wii just isnt the right console for Itagaki who is known for makeing extreemly intense and grahic games with extreemly good graphics as well.

Eh. I'm not a fan of him. I wonder where he will go and what he will do though. Of course I'm interested in what he will say the most. I can't imagine him doing anything other than 360 games, after he stated his distaste for other consoles. I mean... wouldn't it be ironic if he worked on a Nintendo or a Sony exclusive?

Imagine this: What if Nintendo got Itagaki to work for them? Now that will be something.

screw tecmo for making promises taht they don't want to keep.

Watch him go work for Capcom. That would be so awesome.

Good for you Master Itagaki! I look forward to your next masterpiece.

Why is he a good dev, again? DOA is a horrible series, and as far as I can tell, Ninja Gaiden's newer games haven't done anything but push the envelope for how hard a game can be to beat AND how large to make a woman's bosom in a game. I'm just sayin'.

'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.' Well, I guess he did both.

I see Tecmo calling him back for Ninja Gaiden III cause someone else f*ked it up. Well, unexpected things happen...lets see what destiny brings up for TECMO and Itagaki now that they are appart.

Well, I never gotten into the Dead or Alive Series, BUT I am a huge fan of the Ninja Gaiden series, BUT seeing that Ninja Gaiden II was the last of its series, his resignation does not affect me as much. BUT still, he was a good producer, and it DOES suck that he got jipped off for his hard earned money. My condolences towards DoA fans though not getting DoA 5. I wonder what will he do next? ...

Terrible, now the fanboys can argue over who he should dev for. Oh snaps I started it...

I'm disappointed that Ninja Gaiden II hasn't been too well-received. I had high hopes for it.

That sucks. As previously stated, this guy will have no problem finding work.

Itagaki-san is an awesome game designer, he won't remain without a job for long. Hopefully DOA5 does come out, and there are game studios who will cough up a ton of money and their firstborn child to get Itagaki. This is like a major player hitting the free-agent market in baseball.

This is a shame. Such a great designer, now gone. Hopfully he finds work at another game developer. I would like to see him come out with new works. I doubt Tecmo will let DOA or any other Team Ninja series just die, but wthout Itagaki, what' the point? Farewell Tomonobu Itagaki, we knew thee well.

the hell with tecmo, come to santa monica, ca and help produce God of war 3

Whoa! I did not see that coming.

jop360, the President of Tecmo told him, 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'. Thats not a good sign that you are at good terms with a company and also shows that you can be taken advantage of.

Relax bao...shock is entitled to her opinion... :P

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, DOA 5!!! Man, just cause of some bonuses?! Don't you make enough without those?.....you have disappointed me.

He will probably be in MS Studios soon. He has shown that he likes Microsoft systems and called them his home system. Of course its all about the money and Sony would want him as well.

For those who believe Itagaki will Unlikely be interested by say Sony, you are being naive. While I already addressed that Microsoft and Sony would be a well suited place as their consoles cater to his emphasis on technology, do not be suprised that it can go either way. He can merely believe he can "help" make games that fulfill the console's potential. But you CAN count out Nintendo: I don't think head-cutting or fast, boob bouncing gameplay their thing. .

ShockG707 stop saying crap cause you don't know s***

This guy is a bum and the NG games are overrated, good for Tecmo.

oh snap..did not see this comming

That's a shame. I just got Ninja II and I say: It's a NICE game. There will not have Ninja III , but I'm sure Itagaki-kun will work in other company. BETTER THAN Tecmo. He will has his revenge.

Not only is it horrible that Itagaki was betrayed, but Techmo is going to have to spend more money just to go to court with him than if they would have just paid him in the first place. This will definitely affect us, the gamers, because Techmo will have to focus more funds towards legal fees instead of development and other areas related to game making.

This is a sad day for all gamers... :(

Best of luck to Itagaki-san! Your games are awesome, hopefully you will continue your great work!

Oh NOOOO This is a catastrophe , plz Microsoft snap this man before sony, he has been loyal to Microsoft and that the least they do to pay him back , and ?

Noob_Krusher, although I agree with almost all of your points, he left over a pretty big issue. The fact that they refused to pay his bonus and that Yasuda insulted Itagaki around his subordinates and colleagues is something worth leaving over. But yeah, I don't really like Itagaki, although I love Ninja Gaiden.

IKRITaiNT @wargraymon your an idiot, MS publishing the game does make it exclusive. MS doesn't publish for sony! So guess what? Microsoft just doesn't publish the PS3 version if it ever happens, Tecmo does. Tecmo owns the rights, they can change publishers for a new version (i.e. a Sigma version of NG2) That said, I'm not holding my breath. Get a 360 if you want NG2 for sure.

Honestly, I have never been a huge fan of this guy's attitude. I love Ninja Gaiden, DOA4, and even Dragon Sword is fun on the go, but this guy was always kinda a buzz kill. Not only with the sequel harrassment charges, but when he was interviewed for the DS game and was compared to Phantom Hourglass in control, he got really pissy. They compared the control schemes, and he was sure that they did not copy Zelda. He even said that if their roles were reversed Zelda may have copied them. He has delivered some awesome games, but I think departure is a good thing... And the fact he would leave suing over a 3 year old issue doesn't surprise me. I will miss his games, but not his attitude.

i was hoping he would make Ninja Gaiden spin off for the Wii like on the the DS to bad it will never happen. DOA and Ninja Gaiden will never be the same with him not at helm .