Industry leaders have attended a memorial service for Tomonobu Itagaki, the creator of Dead or Alive and the 3D Ninja Gaiden series, who died last month aged 58.
Tomonobu Itagaki was a celebrated figure in the Japanese video game development industry. He formed Team Ninja (originally called Tecmo Creative #3) back in the late 90s, creating not only the Dead or Alive series of fighting games, but also the 3D Ninja Gaiden games.
Yosuke Hayashi’s eulogy about Itagaki
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Amongst the attendees, which included Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada, executive VP of Koei Tecmo, Yosuke Hayashi, talked of meeting the developer, working for him, and getting back in touch shortly before his death.
“I never thought we’d meet like this,” the executive said, as translated on Reddit (thanks, VGC). “My encounter with Itagaki-san dates back to 2001, when I joined the company as a new graduate. I was assigned to your department as a game planner. You told me you had no work for me. That’s what you told me. Two weeks after I was assigned, I really had no work, haha. At the time, I lamented my bad luck, thinking it was the worst possible encounter.
“My most memorable memory with Itagaki-san was the development of Xbox Ninja Gaiden from 2003 to 2004. The development team was in complete chaos, and it seemed like the game would never be completed, haha. But you were the only one who didn’t give up. The two of us spent 12 hours every night checking every adjustment to the game. Those six months are a treasured part of my game-development career.”
Itagaki left the company in 2008 shortly after a former co-worker sued him for sexual harassment. Although he was deemed innocent by Japanese courts in 2007, he ultimately lost his executive officer role. Later in 2010, Itagaki and Koei Tecmo reached a settlement after Itagaki claimed the company was withholding bonuses for Dead or Alive 4. Itagaki moved on to develop Devil’s Third at Valhalla Game Studios.
Before he left the company, Itagaki reportedly told Hayashi “don’t change the [Koei Tecmo] logo”.
“No other unnecessary words were exchanged. You were so pure and cool,” the executive said.
Hayashi also shared his last message from Itagaki in which the developer wrote: “Thank you for remembering our promise [not to change the logo]. Times have changed lately, and selling a million copies doesn’t earn you much recognition from the world anymore. That’s the era we’ve entered. Please keep making great products from now on.”