More key members from Team Ninja also leave and sue Tecmo

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168238

In case you thought Team Ninja's former boss, Tomonobu Itagaki, was leaving game publisher Tecmo as a solo act of attrition, think again. If that act was a single shot across Tecmo's bow, here comes the fusillade. Word on the street is that key members of Team Ninja -- as many as three dozen or more -- are headed out the door as well, but that's not all. It seems that each one of the soon to be ex-ninjas will be serving Tecmo with a ****action lawsuit in regards to unpaid bonuses for completed games.

While Tecmo has fired back, stating, "Tecmo would like to assure its loyal fans that Team Ninja, known for its top-selling and critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises, is intact and, as a matter of fact, has several new projects already underway," one has to wonder just how many people are left that truly constitute the development group known as 'Team Ninja.' Journey was never the same after Steve Perry left, but imagine what it'd be like without the whole band. Yes, Tecmo still owns the IPs and can freely make all the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games/ports it wants to, with or without Team Ninja (Dimps, we're looking at you), but what will these games be without the people who made them hits?

Another problem for Tecmo is that in Japan, any lawsuit filed against a publicly-traded company must be immediately reported to its shareholders on the same business day. The fact that Itagaki had actually filed a complaint against Tecmo in Tokyo District Court on May 14, but Tecmo management withheld this information from shareholders, possibly as late as when the notorious developer released his high-profile public statement on June 2, creates even bigger problems for the game publisher.

Looks like not just Team Ninja but Tecmo will go down under.

What need to happen now:

This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.Oilers99

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

LoL thats the very same name I was thinking they should call themselves UpInFlames._AbBaNdOn

Knowing Itagaki I would put my money on either "Team Itagaki" or "Tomonobu's Dirty Dozen".

I think this deserves a mention here:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313493

"The two top executives in charge of the labor union within Tecmo is suing a joint suit for unpaid wages. The suit was fighted in the Tokyo District Court yesterday, and claims that Tecmo has falsified documents and accounting procedures in regards to employment statuses, overtime pay and various lapses in employment standards when filing documents for labor inspections.

The lawsuit represents the entire company's 300 employees' grievences as a whole, and there might be a 2nd or 3rd wave of lawsuits in regards to the overall employment issue."

Itagaki indeed pressed XYXXXY :lol:

[QUOTE="Oilers99"]This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.UpInFlames

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

[QUOTE="Oilers99"]This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.CarnageHeart

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.

Maybe new blood will help Team Ninja, but they won't have the same influence as Itakagi did. He was a talented and rebel designer, meaning, he could get his own way. With new blood, unless they hire someone on par with Itakagi, I doubt Tecmo would give him any freedom to do what he wants. This is bad for Tecmo because Tecmo has the habit of recycing and milking old material, which was one of Itakagi's criticisms of the company. I think he was pointing out to games like Rygar for the Wii how it's basically the old PS2 game recycled with a new character model and Wii-Mote controls, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3.

I expect more DOA and Ninja Gaiden ports, special editions with extra costumes, etc. for the PS3 to keep them afloat until Tecmo gets on track again.

But I do agree, the DOA characters are the most generic and non-creative character designs I've ever seen. Cheap, shallow, and made only for one purpose, which is, you know. But Ninja Gaiden is based off a clas-sic character, so that shouldn't be criticised for being weak. I think it's a stronger point in Itakagi and Team Ninja's career for reviving the franchise.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"][QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

[QUOTE="Oilers99"]This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.ASK_Story

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.

Maybe new blood will help Team Ninja, but they won't have the same influence as Itakagi did. He was a talented and rebel designer, meaning, he could get his own way. With new blood, unless they hire someone on par with Itakagi, I doubt Tecmo would give him any freedom to do what he wants. This is bad for Tecmo because Tecmo has the habit of recycing and milking old material, which was one of Itakagi's criticisms of the company. I think he was pointing out to games like Rygar for the Wii how it's basically the old PS2 game recycled with a new character model and Wii-Mote controls, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3.

I expect more DOA and Ninja Gaiden ports, special editions with extra costumes, etc. for the PS3 to keep them afloat until Tecmo gets on track again.

But I do agree, the DOA characters are the most generic and non-creative character designs I've ever seen. Cheap, shallow, and made only for one purpose, which is, you know. But Ninja Gaiden is based off a clas-sic character, so that shouldn't be criticised for being weak. I think it's a stronger point in Itakagi and Team Ninja's career for reviving the franchise.

Remakes in general and remakes on the Wii in particular are pretty common so the fact Tecmo has a couple remakes under its belt/in development is a weird thing to beat them up for. Heck, Itagaki remade DOA2 once and NG once, so its odd that he's throwing stones at that particular trend.

Also, when I talked about new blood, I wasn't envisioning Team Ninja and Itagaki parting ways, I was thinking of the old team staying together but picking up game testers who would point out problems like a bad camera and cheap bits as well as game designers with the willingness/talent to address those problems.

[QUOTE="Oilers99"]This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.UpInFlames

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

[/QUOTE

Team Samurai? God, that's ugly. :P They should be named Team Ronin, like that Jean Reno movie.

[QUOTE="Oilers99"]This indicates rather strongly that this wasn't a move of pure egoism on the part of Itagaki. Looks like there may be something solid to his claims.UpInFlames

Indeed. Either way, it's sad to see Team Ninja fall apart like that, seperated from their franchises. Hopefully, they'll all come together and form a new company like Team Samurai or something cool like that.

[/QUOTE

Team Samurai? God, that's ugly. :P They should be named Team Ronin, like that Jean Reno movie.

In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good. CarnageHeart

In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.CarnageHeart

I like them. Ryu Hayabusa is a kickass character and in the context of fighting games, I find the characters and their relation to each other wholly unique.

But I do agree, the DOA characters are the most generic and non-creative character designs I've ever seen.ASK_Story

In the world of fighting game characters, there's nothing that screams generic more than Virtua Fighter.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.UpInFlames

I like them. Ryu Hayabusa is a kickass character and in the context of fighting games, I find the characters and their relation to each other wholly unique.

But I do agree, the DOA characters are the most generic and non-creative character designs I've ever seen.ASK_Story

In the world of fighting game characters, there's nothing that screams generic more than Virtua Fighter.

Ryu is a fine character (though not much more than a basic ninja) but I'm confused as to anyone could have much affection for the fighting strippers and Dennis Rodman clones Team Ninja usually excretes.

As for VF, the makers usually don't go too crazy (looks in direction of Goh) but at least they give female characters more than one bodytype and looks beyond Dancing with the Stars when designing its male characters ;) .

To each their own, but I suspect that if TN cranks out a great action game with a good camera and tough but fair enemies which stars a ninja not named Ryu and a busty blonde sidekick, most won't spare a thought for the old characters.

fighting strippersCarnageHeart

Self-explanatory. :P

What makes DOA interesting and unique to me (again, in the context of fighting games) is the family emphasis. DOA is like a hommage to soap operas, ninjas, sexy women who can kick your ass, Dennis Rodman and Bruce Lee. How is that not awesome? :wink:

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]In light of the fact that character/story/world design are Team Ninja's weak points I don't think TN being separated from its old franchises is a bad thing. How attached was anyone to the cast/art direction/world of NG or DOA? Also, some new blood (especially among the playtesters) might do TN a world of good.UpInFlames

I like them. Ryu Hayabusa is a kickass character and in the context of fighting games, I find the characters and their relation to each other wholly unique.

But I do agree, the DOA characters are the most generic and non-creative character designs I've ever seen.ASK_Story

In the world of fighting game characters, there's nothing that screams generic more than Virtua Fighter.

I've said that all along as well about the VF characters. I always said that the fighting gameplay was top-notch and great but the characters weren't appealing to me. Then VF players would tell me and say things like "that's what customization is for." But no matter how much make-up or fine clothes you put on unattractive character designs, it still is ugly. :P

Having a pair of fusia sunglasses or a guitar on the back of a character is NOT my idea of good character design. :roll: