Tomonobu Itagaki hands in his resignation?

Yep, you heard right. The legendary Team Ninja HEAD MASTER Tomonobu Itagaki has handed Tecmo his resignation. He'll be leaving Tecmo and Team Ninja on July 1, 2008.

The bloody and gory slice-n-dice action game Ninja Gaiden II will be his last Ninja Gaiden game he'll ever produce, stating in an interview a few weeks back that it will be his "swan song" and rightfully so.

The reasoning for his resignation is due to the lack of unpaid bonuses to Mr. Itagaki for completion of Dead or Alive 4. The President of Tecmo Co., Yoshimi Yasuda said he would be paid a completion bonus but then went back on his word. Yasuda went on to tell Itagaki that if he has a problem with the current situation to either "quit" or "sue the company" and that's exactly what he plans to do. Another reason for his departure is a hostile working environment.

It does suck however that after so many years with Team Ninja it all came down this. I think Itagaki will either join an already existing game company or create his own.

Anyways, I wish Tomonobu Itagaki the very best of luck in whatever he does in the future.

For a full statement on his resignation, read on...