Passionate to work alongside Xbox once again
It looks like there’s a new gun in town. Charismatic producer Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of fighting franchiseDead or Aliveand the head honcho behind the modernNinja Gaidentitles, has announced that he has formed his own studio – Itagaki Games.
The news was revealed in an excerpt from a recent interviewbetween Itagaki and Bloomberg, which focused on the 20th anniversary of Xbox. Itagaki Games will exist as its own endeavor, and is not connected with studios such as Koei Tecmo, Valhalla, or Team Ninja, with which Itagaki has been closely associated in the past.
In the interview, (which you can check out onFacebook), Itagaki noted how comfortable he felt when working alongside Microsoft/Xbox in the early ’00s, specifically on Xbox launch titleDead or Alive 3. In the interview, Itagaki also expressed pleasure at the possibility of collaborating with the industry giant once again.
“All the main Xbox team, including Seamus Blackley, Ed Fries, Kevin Bachus, their leader Robbie Bach and George Peckham who often played golf with me, provided full support on me,” remembers Itagaki. “I visited Redmond once every two months, and they introduced me a lot of tools and support that would help speed up game development […] If they reach out to me, it will be an honor for me.”
Left to his own devices, it will be interesting to see what Itagaki and his team have in store for the new generation of gaming. Now in the driving seat, Itagaki fans could see a run of releases that stand up against the producer’s past successes such asDead or Alive 4orNinja Gaiden Black.So fingers crossed, lest we forgetThe Devil’s Thirdalso exists.
