Tecmo and Itagaki Settle Lawsuit; Itagaki Responds

Former Head Ninja confirms settlement and thanks fans.

By 1UP Staff, 02/25/2010

Back in mid-2008, you may recall former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki leaving Tecmo and filing a lawsuit regarding, in his words, a dispute over "unpaid completion bonuses" for Dead of Alive 4 and "unreasonable and disingenuous statements" by Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda (who has since left Tecmo).

As of today, the lawsuit has been settled out of court. And Itagaki has supplied 1UP with the below letter explaining his side of the story:

"To Whom It May Concern

Regarding Settlement With Tecmo, Ltd:

I, Tomonobu Itagaki, announce that a settlement was amicably reached on February 26th, 2010 upon a mutual agreement with respect to the lawsuit for remuneration, etc. that I filed against Tecmo, Ltd. claiming the payment of unpaid remuneration, and unpaid wages, and payment of compensation for dismissal, etc.

To All of My Fans:

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your great help and words of encouragement which have been extended to me so far. I can't hardly wait for the day of announcing my newest work in progress to you all, but I promise you now that I will deliver to you an enjoyable game with depth that surpasses all the games I created before, and is worthy of being world-class entertainment.

Please continue your unwavering support for me.

-Tomonobu Itagaki"

That makes me laugh.

But will do!

This guy is a very unpleasant gentlemen.

We will see. I mean, he did create some of my favorite games ever (Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden) and there's no denying he was a pivotal part of pretty much innovating Action games and 3D fighters. However....with his 'team' now doing such games as Ninja Gaiden 2 and Metroid Other M even AFTER he left....it might be kind of hard for him to try to use them as a springboard for future achievements. As is his usual tendency. Make people listen to him by mocking or picking at the flaws of others.

....why would you call your previous games 'lesser' than what you are working on now? That's like Miyamoto coming out and saying 'this new game is 100x better than that Mario 3 and Ocarina of Time trash, get pumped for it!' In short, negativity hardly ever breeds positive results.

He brought a lot of Team Ninja (44 members including all the lead directors and engineers) with him to his new studio Tokyo Vikings. He said it was basically everybody from the Ninja Gaiden 2 team. He also still a 360 fanboy