Tomonobu Itagaki, the founder of Team Ninja and a legendary Japanese game developer behind titles like Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden (2004), has passed away.
The news was shared in a posthumous post from the creator, which was to be published in the event of his death, with his close friend, the co-founder and creative director of Bitsummit, James Mielke, confirming his passing on both Bluesky and Instagram.
As alluded to, Itagaki will likely be most closely associated with his role as the producer and director responsible for bringing the Dead or Alive series to the world — a game series that first debuted in the arcades back in 1996, as well as his role in rebooting Tecmo's popular Ninja Gaiden series for Microsoft's Xbox console back in 2004.
In interviews, Itagaki was never shy of being outspoken and sharing his honest opinions — something which often earned him a reputation for having a rebellious streak and caused some friction between him and some of his fellow developers.
In 2008, he left Team Ninja to form Valhalla Game Studios, where he led the development of Devil's Third, a long-in-development game which earned largely negative reviews internationally upon launch, while, more recently, he was gearing up to create a new game with his new company, Itagaki Games, established in 2021.
The original social media post from Itagaki, as translated by Mielke on Instagram, reads:
“The flame of my life is finally about to go out.
If this message has been posted, that means the time has come - I am no longer in this world. (This final post has been entrusted to someone dear to me.)
My life was a constant battle. And I kept on winning.
l also caused a lot of trouble along the way.
I take pride in having fought through it all, following my own convictions.
I have no regrets.
I only feel deep sorrow that I couldn't deliver a new work to all my fans.
That's just how it goes.
So it goes.Tomonobu Itagaki"
Writing on BlueSky, Mielke shared the following about the news:
"Today I lost a friend who was more than a brother to me. He called me his brother, he called me his best friend. I am honored to have been any of these things to him, and was equally grateful for his friendship for more than two decades. I am reposting his final Facebook message as a way to share the news in his own words.
I knew his time was going to be short after I saw him a little over a week ago. While he remained optimistic, he could leave the hospital in a month; I think we both knew that was optimistic at best. All I can say is he suffered from a serious illness that escalated rather severely in his final days. I spent all afternoon with him, wishing I could do more. But at least I was with him near the very end. When I got the news late this afternoon, I was also grateful to hear the news directly, rather than second-hand.
My heart is broken, and it’ll be a while before I recover from this.
You will always be my brother, Itagaki-san. Thank you for everything you’ve shared with me through the years. I owe so much to you. I will continue to honor you, however and whenever I can."
Our thoughts are with Itagaki's family and friends at this difficult time.