Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of Dead or Alive series and Team Ninja founder, passed away

Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the Dead or Alive series and the founder of Team Ninja, who revived the Ninja Gaiden franchise back in 2004, passed away at the age of 58.

Itagaki served at Tecmo for 16 years, from 1992 until 2008, and worked on such titles as Tecmo Super Bowl, Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2, Dead or Alive 3, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Fatal Frame I: Crimson Butterfly, Ninja Gaiden Black, Dead or Alive 4, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, Super Swing Golf, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, and Ninja Gaiden II.

After that, he also directed 2015’s Devil’s Third and advised on 2020’s Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.

Tomonobu said final goodbyes to the fans in a post published on his Facebook page by a close confidant following his passing. Headlined as the “Last Words”, the message reads (via machine translation):

“The light of my life is finally fading.
The fact that this message has been posted means that the time has finally come. I am no longer in this world (I’m asking a loved one to make this final post).
My life has been a series of battles. I kept winning. I’ve caused a lot of trouble, too. I’m proud to say that I followed my beliefs and fought to the end. I have no regrets.
However, I’m filled with regret that I wasn’t able to deliver a new work to all my fans. I’m sorry.
That’s just how it is. So it goes.“

Itagaki believed a good game should be an integrated product of good graphics, interactivity, and playability. He also placed a high priority on ensuring his games were interactive with the player’s actions and responded quickly to the player’s inputs.

He appears as a non-playable character in 2005’s Dead or Alive 4, 2008’s Ninja Gaiden II, and 2015’s Devil’s Third.