In a cut excerpt from an interview, Tomonobu Itagaki casually revealed that he established a new company: Itagaki Games. The creative auteur posted the interview on his official Facebook account. Itagaki recounted his positive working relationship with Microsoft and even expressed interest in collaborating with them again in the future.
Known for producing and directing the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, Itagaki detailed in the interview his past working with Microsoft for the Xbox’s 2002 launch. After describing his positive experiences with the company, he mentioned that he founded another new studio named Itagaki Games. He clarified that this company is not Tecmo nor Valhalla Game Studios. After spending the past four years teaching, Itagaki stated that he established this new company for the purpose of making games again.
Itagaki revealed that Bloomberg interviewed him for its article celebrating the Microsoft Xbox’s 20th anniversary. Unfortunately, the publication ultimately omitted his portion. Bloomberg’s Dina Bass wrote the story with a series of interviews looking back on Microsoft’s debut into the home console market. Highlights from the piece included discussions of Microsoft possibly acquiring Nintendo, Square, and EA.
Itagaki Games isn’t the first studio that Itagaki founded. He and fellow Tecmo staff member, Satoshi Kanematsu, founded Valhalla Game Studios in 2008. After a rocky development process spanning six years, the company released Devil’s Third to negative reviews.
