„It's hard to believe”. Tomonobu Itagaki, father of the Dead or Alive series and the modern Ninja Gaiden, has passed away
Japanese developer Tomonobu Itagaki has died. He was best known for the Dead or Alive series and Ninja Gaiden.
At the age of 58, Tomonobu Itagaki, a Japanese video game designer known for series such as Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, has passed away. A close friend shared the news of his passing today by posting his last words on the creator's private Facebook account.
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 is asking someone special to me).
My life has been a series of battles. We stayed winning. I've caused a lot of trouble. I stand by my beliefs and I owe it. No regrets. I just feel sorry to all my fans for not being able to deliver my new work.
Sorry. It is what it is.
Tomonobu Itagaki was born in 1967 in Tokyo and kicked off his gaming career at 25 when he joined Tecmo. In 1996, a game called Dead or Alive came out, and he was its director. Since then, he mainly worked on creating the rest of the series up to the fourth installment, as well as three parts of the Ninja Gaiden series.
In 2008, Itagaki left Tecmo, which he sued for withholding a promised bonus. He then worked on Devil’s Third at Valhalla Game Studio, and in 2021, he founded a new studio, Itagaki Games. Unfortunately, no game was released under its banner.
Today's news was confirmed on Bluesky by James Mielke, a former journalist, co-founder of BitSummit, and a close friend of Itagaki. In his message, he conveyed that the developer was like a brother to him, and the news of his death deeply devastated him. In the second message, he also mentioned that they worked together on a book, and he'll do whatever he can to get it published.
Today I lost someone who truly was like a brother to me. I am deeply devastated. I think I can say this now since it appeared on his Facebook page. He even listed himself on the portal as my real brother. Anyone who knows me knows how close we were.
Rest in peace, senpai. You will always be a ninja.
Katsuhiro Harada, the developer of the Tekken series, also expressed his sorrow on X.
It's hard to believe, but Itagaki-san…my senior from university and my rival as a creator has passed away. The last message I ever received from him was: 'Let's go drinking. Let's make some noise soon!' To think that he's gone at just 58 years old…
Tomonobu Itagaki and Katsuhiro Harada. Source: X, Katsuhiro Harada
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Author: Martin Bukowski
Graduate of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Gdańsk University of Technology, who decided to dedicate his life to video games. In his childhood, he would get lost in the Gothic's Valley of Mines and "grind for gold" in League of Legends. Twenty years later, games still entertain him just as much. Today, he considers the Persona series and soulslike titles from From Software as his favorite games. He avoids consoles, and a special place in his heart is reserved for PC. In his spare time, he works as a translator, is creating his first game, or spends time watching movies and series (mainly animated ones).
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