Team Ninja has announced the sad news of the passing of its founding leader, Tomonobu Itagaki.
Everyone is watching Team Ninja as the newest Ninja Gaiden game comes out on October 21, 2025. We’ve seen previews that suggest it will be a very challenging game. Sadly, just days before its release, a key figure who helped bring the Ninja Gaiden series back to life has passed away.
Team Ninja’s First Leader Passed Away a Few Days Before Ninja Gaiden 4’s Release
Team Ninja announced the death of Tomonobu Itagaki on their X (formerly Twitter) account, stating:
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Team NINJA’s first leader, Tomonobu Itagaki.
We’re committed to building on the vision and innovative spirit of Itagaki-san, and will continue making games that players love.
Our deepest condolences for his loss.
From everyone at Team NINJA
Okay, so for anyone who doesn’t know, Tomonobu Itagaki is a super famous game designer from Japan. He started at Tecmo way back in ’92, but he really blew up with the original *Dead or Alive* in ’96. Then, in 2001, he became the first head of Team Ninja. That’s where things *really* got interesting – he brought back the classic *Ninja Gaiden* series, which started as an arcade game in ’88, and totally revamped it for the Xbox in 2004. That game was a huge hit with critics and even had its own online tournaments around the world.
After that, the leader of Team Ninja oversaw the release of several Ninja Gaiden games, including Ninja Gaiden Black, Dragon Sword, and Ninja Gaiden II. He left Tecmo in 2008 after a disagreement and started his own company, Vallhalla Game Studios, where he worked with former Team Ninja colleagues to create Devil’s Third. Most recently, in 2021, Itagaki founded a new studio called Itagaki Games.
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2025-10-16 16:18