In what can only be described as a move out of nowhere, an aide to Tomonobu Itagaki has told 1UP that Itagaki has left his position at Team Ninja, and has in fact sued Tecmo. Note the bold:

I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year. In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

What are these bonuses in which Itagaki speaks of? Well, according to Itagaki, Tecmo had agreed to pay a completion bonus for Dead or Alive 4, which Tecmo never paid. In fact, according to Itagaki, Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda told him that if he was unhappy with the decision not to pay the bones to ‘either quit the company or sue it.’

Obviously, Itagaki thought that was a pretty dandy idea.

If you fear that you will never hear from Tomonobu Itagaki again, however, don’t worry — Itagaki ended his letter to the press with this message to gamers across the world:

To All Game Fans

I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. Ninja Gaiden 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last Ninja Gaiden I will create. I will also never be able to make Dead or Alive 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans. However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so. I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future.

We here at Binge Gamer are huge fans of Tomonobu Itagaki, and wish him the best in all his future endeavours. I, for one, look forward to seeing what his next offering will be.

via 1UP

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