41 Facts About Tomonobu Itagaki

Tomonobu Itagaki was born on April 1,1967 and is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the Dead or Alive series and reviving the Ninja Gaiden franchise in 2004.

Tomonobu Itagaki left the company in June 2008 after 16 years of service, filing a lawsuit against it for withholding bonus pay.

Tomonobu Itagaki formed a new company Valhalla Game Studios with several Team Ninja members and released Devil's Third.

Tomonobu Itagaki dissolved in December 2021 and he has now formed a new one called Itagaki Games.

At its inception, Tomonobu Itagaki said Tomonobu Itagaki Games would release its first game for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.

In early October 2024, it was mistakenly announced Tomonobu Itagaki Games was being dissolved like Valhalla Game Studios.

Tomonobu Itagaki enrolled in Waseda University and graduated from its School of Law in 1992.

Tomonobu Itagaki is married and has a daughter, whom he has mentioned as one of the primary influences on his projects, including developing Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS, and a constant gaming partner in games like the Halo series.

Tomonobu Itagaki has in his office a set of katana Japanese swords his father made for him, which he tends to take out to show to his visitors.

Tomonobu Itagaki joined Tecmo in 1992 as a graphics programmer, and initially worked on the Super Famicom version of the American football video game, Tecmo Super Bowl.

Tomonobu Itagaki was mentored by Yoshiaki Inose and Akihiko Shimoji in his early years at Tecmo, and learned from them to include fun as a necessary component in his projects.

Tomonobu Itagaki's rise through the company had been steady since then.

Tomonobu Itagaki was appointed as the head of the third creative department in April 2001.

Tomonobu Itagaki then assumed the post of Team Ninja Leader in July 2001.

Tomonobu Itagaki later assumed the position of general manager of the high-end production department in February, 2006.

Tomonobu Itagaki was later judged innocent by a Tokyo district court in June 2007.

Tomonobu Itagaki had sought to create fighting games with details he felt were lacking in other games.

Tomonobu Itagaki explains the core of the game as a paradise where the player can watch the girls they 'love' enjoy simple activities.

Tomonobu Itagaki continued work on it to release Ninja Gaiden Black as the opus of his Ninja Gaiden work.

Tomonobu Itagaki continued the series on the Nintendo DS with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, partly due to a promise made to his daughter.

Tomonobu Itagaki suggests other Japanese developers should do like-wise and be aware of the gaming tastes outside Japan, so as to be able to reverse the Japanese gaming industry slump of 2005.

On June 2,2008, just before the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360, Tomonobu Itagaki announced that he was resigning from Tecmo and was suing the company for withholding a bonus promised for his previous works.

Tomonobu Itagaki was suing Tecmo's president Yoshimi Yasuda for damages based on "unreasonable and disingenuous statements" made in front of Itagaki's colleagues.

In January 2021, Tomonobu Itagaki announced that he has established a new game studio, Tomonobu Itagaki Games, and stated that he would be interested in working with Microsoft again.

Tomonobu Itagaki believes a good game should be an integrated product of good graphics, interactivity, and playability.

Tomonobu Itagaki finds the payoff for the game's button-prompting sequences to be less fulfilling than that of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai's.

Tomonobu Itagaki professes a liking for simplicity of inputs, he states too many inputs would result in the loss of the gaming experience.

Tomonobu Itagaki defines a game developer's satisfaction with a game machine as dependent upon these criteria.

Tomonobu Itagaki claimed that he wanted to develop his games for the Xbox 360.

Tomonobu Itagaki viewed the Xbox 360 as the most powerful console on the market at the time of its design.

Tomonobu Itagaki has spoken of his handheld philosophy which goes for responsiveness and physical interaction, instead of raw hardware power.

Tomonobu Itagaki says a game created, based on the specifications of the PSP, would be more suited for a true home console.

Tomonobu Itagaki classifies his projects into core projects, and those purely for self-fulfillment.

Tomonobu Itagaki is thorough with his games, working on them from start to release, and even post release to correct what he feels are deficiencies, and polish them up to their full potential.

Tomonobu Itagaki has shown this in his project developments, such as pushing back the release of Dead or Alive 4 just to polish the game based on feedback of top Japanese Dead or Alive players recruited to test it out.

Tomonobu Itagaki creates his game characters by immersing himself in their roles and the games.

Tomonobu Itagaki defended those games as nostalgia comedic pieces, meant to make the player remember the celebrity games played on Japanese television.

Tomonobu Itagaki bemoans that the Japanese are starting to forget the basic concepts, closing off their minds to outside criticisms.

Tomonobu Itagaki has consistently given harsh opinions on Namco's Tekken games, mainly due to his grudge against the company for its insulting radio commercial on his Dead or Alive game.

Tomonobu Itagaki has stated he never forgets an insult to his family, and will retaliate with "nuclear missiles more than 100 times for that".

In 2025, Katsuhiro Harada who directed Tekken revealed that Tomonobu Itagaki had apologised privately in 2008, saying he had respected Tekken and its staff, and that his aggressive language was part of a strategy to draw media attention, especially from Western gaming outlets.