Guide Note

Tomonobu Itagaki was the lead video game designer for Team Ninja, a division of Tecmo and the primary developer for the Ninja Gaiden series of video games. On June 3, 2008, Itagaki announced his resignation from Team Ninja, effective July 1, 2008. He additionally filed a lawsuit against Tecmo regarding the alleged withholding of completion bonus pay. On June 17, 2008, more than 300 employees of Tecmo filed a lawsuit against the company because of what they say is a lack of compensation for overtime and holiday work. ¹

Fast Facts

1. Born: 1967
2. Tecmo and Team Ninja video game designer
3. Married with one daughter

Background

Itagaki is known for helping create several popular video game franchises, most notably the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series. In 2007, he teamed with the professional video game league Championship Gaming Series in conducting the Itagaki Challenge, a battle of the sexes match featuring the top Dead or Alive 4 players in the league. Itagaki is also known for speaking his mind about other developers and video game series, most notably Namco's Tekken series, which has a gameplay similar to Dead or Alive 4. Itagaki began his career as a graphics programmer with Tecmo in 1992, helping create the game Tecmo Bowl for the Super Famicom. Four years later, he produced Dead or Alive. In 2001, he became the leader of Team Ninja prior to achieving an executive officer position in 2004. He resigned his executive position in 2006 due to sexual assault allegations.