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[Update: Studio Still in Operation] Itagaki Games Has Shut Down - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 December 2024 / 3,452 Views
Update:
It has been announced Itagaki Production Co., Ltd. in September 2024 changed its name to Itagaki Games Co., Ltd. and this is a consolidation or transfer to the newly named Itagaki Games Co., Ltd. This does appear the studio has not shut down.
Original article:
Itagaki Games has shut down, according to a company dissolution notice posted on Japan's government gazette.
"Dissolution Notice: [Itagaki Games, LLC] has been dissolved, so if you have any claims against our company, please submit your claims within two months from the day this notice is published," reads the notice (via a translation by Gematsu).
Itagaki Games was established in January 2021 by Tomonobu Itagaki, who is best known for creating the Dead or Alive series and being a producer and director on Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2.
The studio had yet to release any games, however, its first game was supposed to release for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Looks like his studio is actually still in operations.
But regardless, at this rate I don't think history will view him as favorably as he would have hoped.
Hard to say how much of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden's success can be attributed to him, given Ninja Gaiden had already been created by his mentor before the 3D versions, and Dead or Alive borrowed heavily from Virtua Fighter and Tekken.
He claimed to be the sole creative force behind his projects. But after he left Tecmo Koei in 2008, his new studio took 8 years to release Devil's Third, which was heavily unfavored by critics and fans alike. And hasn't really made anything since.
While Team Ninja continued to do well in that time period with games such as NiOh, Hyrule Warriors, and Dead or Alive 5 was considered successful enough to make Dead or Alive 6.
Though Ninja Gaiden 3 wasn't recieved as well as the previous games. But that can happen with or without the same development team. And the company's record without him is lightyears ahead of what he has been able to achieve without them, even when taking into account that independent smaller studios have a lot less money.
You can't always judge a person based on their appearance or actions. But he seems to try really hard to portray this image of a rockstar, in order to be viwed in a similar way to how people naturally view creators like Masahiro Sakurai or Katsuhiro Harada. But it just always felt like overcompensation for something. And he hasn't proven that feeling wrong so far. Although I wish he lives up to his image a bit and produces something good soon.
Great comment. Itagaki has a special place in my heart, love him or hate him, the guy is legendary. And he obviously has great ideas, he just doesn't seem to be very good at executing them. I remember thinking Devil's Third had so much potential, alas, it's a shame the fate that game met. They tried bring Devil's Third back on PC under the name Rockshot.
Yeah, and there's a big difference between working for a large company and a smaller independent one. So while it may be difficult to see how much credit belongs to one person under a big publisher, it's also difficult to evaluate how much that person is to blame for a game's failings under a smaller indie company.
Next year Devil's Third will be 10 years old. Presumably they've been working on a new game for most of the time since. Hopefully for everyone, they'll release something that players enjoy, and encorporates some of his unique ideas. Otherwise the second half of his story as a developer will mostly be filled with questions of 'what if'. (He has now spent as much time as an indie developer as he has working with Tecmo.)
What will become of DoA and Ninja Gaiden!?
Itagaki hasn't had any control over those for a long time, not since 2008 when he resigned from Koei Tecmo. Koei Tecmo maintains control of them. They just announced a DoA dating sim for Asia markets only recently, no idea if they are working on DoA 7 or a new Ninja Gaiden.
The studio he left to make this NFT bullshit studio changed their named to Soliel and made Wanted Dead and Valkyrie Elysium so they have done better without him. Team Ninja has been better without him. He can take his place with Gaffe being a lowly reaction YouTuber. Industry has passed them by.
Soo true! The latest doa and ninja gaiden where incredible.
Ow.
Wait....
DOA6 is only 5 years old. Team Ninja has put out Nioh games. Rise of the Ronin and others. They are putting out lot's of quality games
You mean Jaffe the sick guy starved for attention?
What do you have against Gaffe??
Aside from he's an idiot. A hack. Attention whore. Troll. Could not figure his way out of a room in Metroid Dread. Nothing. Oh yeah. GoW sucks. ripped off Rygar PS2. Rygar played better. Gow is overly simple. Dumbass edglord writing. Mash square for a grey tiny character in a grey environment. There is a reason Dante has a red coat.
With this comment you're acting just as much an 'idiot' troll as David Jaffe.
You are a peasant compared to david jaffe. You should be bowing at his feet. Guy created two among the best franchises and your mad because he had complains on design issues with metroid dread and astro.. So what. He may have adhd , but he generally brings good content to his channel.
Essay Pro