Legendary Dead Or Alive And Ninja Gaiden Creator Tomonobu Itagaki Has Died

Veteran video game developer Tomonobu Itagaki has passed away at the age of 58. Famous for his work on the Dead or Alive fighting game franchise and the revival of Ninja Gaiden in the 2000s, Itagaki’s death was confirmed on his Facebook profile where he left a final message.

“Final Words, the flame of my life is about to go out. The fact that this message has been posted means that my time has finally come. I am no longer in this world–I have entrusted someone important to me with this final message,” Itagaki’s post read (via Facebook translation).

“My life was a continuous battle which I kept winning. I caused a lot of trouble for others too. I take pride in having fought to the end, and having followed my convictions. I have no regrets, but I am deeply sorry that I could not deliver new works to my fans. I’m sorry. So it goes.”

Itagaki’s video game career kicked off in 1992 with Tecmo Super Bowl where he served as a graphics programmer, and in 1996, he rose to fame with the release of Dead or Alive. In 2001, he was placed in charge of Team Ninja–the studio that he founded originally as Tecmo Creative #3 in the ’90s–and he led the production on the modern-day revival of Ninja Gaiden. Itagaki also served as both producer and director on multiple games like Dead or Alive Ultimate, Dead or Alive 4, and Ninja Gaiden 2.

By then, Itagaki had become infamous for not holding back his comments on the state of the video game industry at the time, and he later resigned from Tecmo amidst claims of the company withholding a bonus that he had been promised. He’d later found Valhalla Game Studios and release Devil’s Third for the Wii U and PC, but the game was met with negative reviews upon release.

After leaving Valhalla in 2017, Itagaki returned to video game development with a new studio in 2021, Itagaki Games. Tributes have begun pouring in for the legendary developer from across the industry, and James Mielke–co-founder of Tigertron and BitSummit–was one of the first to talk about the loss of Itagaki. “RIP, senpai. You will always be a ninja,” Mielke wrote.