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Tomonobu Itagaki Latest News Thread

deathofaninja

deathofaninja

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Tomonobu Itagaki is a former Tecmo legend that started Team NINJA and created the best franchise of all time: Dead or Alive and rebooted NINJA Gaiden to be the best action title of all time. Even though his days at Tecmo are long over with he still remains a community focal point to this day. Some refer to the 'Itagaki Era' as the best Team NINJA will ever have had the chance to be, but others prefer the 'Post-Itagaki Era' where he was no longer a part of Koei Tecmo and the DOA & NINJA Gaiden series went on without him.

This thread is for the most recent Tomonobu Itagaki news all in one place for your quick and timely reference.
 
deathofaninja

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Itagaki recently made updates to his social media accounts. He now has an Instagram Account, and at this point in time he is adding people that follow him. He's still going through with 'Itagaki Games' as the CEO.

He also recently created a new Twitter Account as he can no longer access his old one. Oddly enough the account vanished after his negative NFT announcement reaction, and he hasn't talked about it again since December of last year! This stunt did not do him any favors as he lost thousands of followers after his first account vanished and his reup account did not generate the buzz it originally did bringing him back to square one with the Twitter platform.
 
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KasumiLover

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deathofaninja said:
Rumor: Tomonobu Itagaki might be going back to work with Microsoft for his new studio 'Itagaki Games' to be converged with Xbox Game Studios.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1656275932863250432
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Hoping Itagaki can come back into the action and fighting game genres. I really want him to win and get a breakout game, who knows? Maybe yes can make a new unique fighter and make something in the vain of DOA, but likely more different now since he'll have more creative reign
 
deathofaninja

deathofaninja

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KasumiLover said:
Hoping Itagaki can come back into the action and fighting game genres. I really want him to win and get a breakout game, who knows? Maybe yes can make a new unique fighter and make something in the vain of DOA, but likely more different now since he'll have more creative reign
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Whatever he wants to do I support. I hate the people that are dense enough to judge a GOD because of one dumb game that really wasn't even that bad.
 
Rikuto

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Itagaki doesn't actually like fighting games, so don't expect that. He only made DOA because it was what was selling at the time.

Action games, yes. He is likely to fall into that camp.
 
deathofaninja

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Rikuto said:
Itagaki doesn't actually like fighting games, so don't expect that. He only made DOA because it was what was selling at the time.

Action games, yes. He is likely to fall into that camp.
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I wouldn't agree that he disliked fighting games. I would say he was done making them after DOA4 when he believed he couldn't take the series any further. That's like saying the Rock didn't like wrestling when he went off to make movies. He just moved on from it.
 
Rikuto

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This is based around two things. Conversations from people who knew him well during the Tecmo years, and also simply his track record of having no conceptual idea whatsoever as to what makes a fighting game function in the first place.

He was doing it because at the time, it was the thing to do. He even admits to as much.
 
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deathofaninja

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Rikuto said:
This is based around two things. Conversations from people who knew him well during the Tecmo years, and also simply his track record of having no conceptual idea whatsoever as to what makes a fighting game function in the first place.

He was doing it because at the time, it was the thing to do. He even admits to as much.
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Someone from Koei Tecmo (I have a strong idea on who you are speaking of) talking about a former associate that successfully sued them isn't someone I'd take recaps from.

Yes, he said fighting games were attractive to the company and it was his job to make a fighter. Doesn't mean he didn't have passion and love for what he did for fighting games. He showed that environments can be used gloriously in combat, graphics and animation can be unparalleled and even has made the comparison to the parallels between DOA and his beloved action games. How long did it take for a company to make a game that looked better than DOA2 on the DC? Until the next DOA game came out is the answer.
 
Rikuto

Rikuto

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People being the key word, not person. And you definitely have the wrong person. Also worth pointing out that just about the only individuals at the company who truly took it personally when he left were not from the team itself. It was a tragedy for the team when they split, but it's not like it was bad blood with the remaining members exactly. For the most part they will just tell you good stories, or funny stories. But I've never seen any inconsistency about how they refer to Itagaki himself. He was well respected and ran things in a military fashion, and that also made him an asshole. They do not shy away from talking about him exactly how he was, both the good and the bad.

Itagaki was the type of guy who, when he was given a hand to play with, would embrace that hand regardless of what it was. He's not currently in a position where he's being forced into making fighting games though, so I don't think you will ever see that again. He does have an affinity for shooters and action games though, so this is always going to be more likely.
 
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TheHunterKiller692

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Rikuto said:
For the most part, they will just tell you good stories, or funny stories. But I've never seen any inconsistency about how they refer to Itagaki himself. Itagaki was the type of guy who, when he was given a hand to play with, would embrace that hand regardless of what it was. He does have an affinity for shooters and action games.
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I'm just not sure how he could recover from Warrior and Devil's Third.
 
TheHunterKiller692

TheHunterKiller692

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Rikuto said:
Well, like I said. He will embrace whatever hand he is given.
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I'm pretty sure that's mercenary mentality right there. And if he can't make a game nearly as good as Titanfall 2, I'm gonna throw the book at him.

Yes, he said fighting games were attractive to the company and it was his job to make a fighter. Doesn't mean he didn't have passion and love for what he did for fighting games.
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And he didn't ask to sell the franchise to him, so he might as well be living under a bridge.
 
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