Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, has passed away aged 58, according to a farewell post left on the legendary game developer’s Facebook page.
The post, written in Japanese and machine-translated using Google, reads as follows:
“The light of my life is about to run out. The fact that this sentence has been posted means it’s finally time. I’m no longer in this world (this last post was sent by someone special to me). My life has a series of battles, and we have stayed winning. I’ve caused a lot of trouble. I stand by my beliefs and I owe it. No regrets. I just feel so sorry to all my fans for not being able to deliver my new work. Sorry. It is what it is. So it goes.”
Itagaki Created Two Legendary Series
Itagaki joined Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo) in 1992, with his first project being the American football game Tecmo Super Bowl. He created one of his iconic series, Dead or Alive, in 1996, which catapulted his career at Tecmo.
Itagaki then went on to head Team Ninja, one of Tecmo’s internal studios. Dead or Alive 2 and Dead or Alive 3 advanced the popularity of the fighting game series, with the spin-off Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball also earning plaudits, despite sparking some controversy at the time of its release in 2003.
Itagaki didn’t want people reading his emotions during gambling games, so he began wearing sunglasses everywhere. This went on to become his signature look.
Then came Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki’s famous action-adventure series and a rare example of a Japanese-developed title releasing exclusively on the Xbox. Before the release of Ninja Gaiden 2, Itagaki resigned from Tecmo after claiming the company wrongfully withheld his bonus payments.
The second half of Itagaki’s career proved less prolific. He directed the poorly received action-adventure Devil’s Third, which released in 2015. At the time of his death, Itagaki was working on an unannounced project.
One of the replies to Itagaki’s post came from fellow fighting game developer Katsuhiro Harada, who wrote, “You’re kidding, Itagaki-san, you said we should go for drinks next time.”
Farewell to a legend.
