Founder Of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, Dies At 58

Video Games

Oct 19

The creator of Dead or Alive and the Ninja Gaiden revival of 2004 has died at the age of 58.

Known for his trademark sunglasses, Japanese game designer Tomonobu Itagaki began his career in the games industry in the early 1990s as a graphics programmer, before going on to found and lead what became Team Ninja, a now celebrated video game studio. His most noted contributions in the following years emerged in the early 2000s, with the aforementioned Dead or Alive franchise and a revival of the Ninja Gaiden video game series in a 3D medium.

He was an uncompromising creator who enjoyed giving fans what they wanted, with a healthy dose of fair challenge to their gaming experience. While he left Tecmo and Team Ninja, he later founded Valhalla Game Studios and Itagaki Games in pursuit of new projects.

One of his final posts on social media saw Itagaki reflecting on his life, saying it was one “full of battles” while he also expressed regret at not having the time to finish another game for his many fans. The information of his death came from a message shared on his official Facebook page on October 16th of this year, with tributes coming in from his various creative partners over the years and other figures in the industry, like Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada.

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