Tomonobu Itagaki: Farewell to the Father of Dead or Alive

This morning, the industry was violently shaken by the news that Tomonobu Itagaki, known to many as "the father of Dead or Alive" – but also a great author of the Ninja Gaiden saga and Devil's Third – has passed away at the age of 58.

The news came from his official Facebook profile via a message that Itagaki himself, signing as Banobu, compiled and entrusted to a trusted person with the task of publishing it when he was no longer alive.

Itagaki: The Career of an Eccentric Creative

Tomonobu Itagaki joined Tecmo in 1992, although his first collaboration dates back to 1990 and the game Tecmo Super Bowl. In 1996, he directed his first game, none other than the very first Dead or Alive, which channeled his career until 2003, when after a stint on Fatal Frame II he set to work to resurrect the "old" Ninja Gaiden series, releasing the first chapter in 2004. In 2015, he conceived and created Devil's Third, and in 2020, he signed on as supervisor for his last work at Tecmo Koei: Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.

From 2008 to 2021, he was part of the Valhalla Games studio, and when it was disbanded, he left the company to found his personal software house under the name of Itagaki Games.

Unfortunately, despite the studio growing in staff, funding, and projects a year ago, his creator's health evidently did not keep pace, and so Itagaki bids farewell to his fans with the regret of not having been able to personally deliver his latest game, which was, moreover, unannounced. It is certainly too early to know what the fate of the studio will be now that its founder is no longer with us.

Those who worked with him remember him as an eccentric, imaginative person with extremely frank and direct manners, in many ways far from the typical austerity often associated with the Japanese, but perfectly in line with the characteristics of his most famous works.
Our deepest condolences naturally go out to his family and close friends.