
Tomonobu Itagaki, the man behind the Dead or Alive and modern-era Ninja Gaiden titles, is ready to get back in the game after four years away.
With his flowing hair and ever-present sunglasses, Itagaki is one of Japanese gaming's most recognisable characters, but he hasn't produced a video game since the release of the Wii U exclusive Devil's Third in 2015.
Originally intended for release on the PS3 and Xbox 360 with THQ publishing, Devil's Third would eventually be published by Nintendo itself, but was met with a rather frosty critical reception – we gave it 5/10 and said: "Devil's Third is an odd beast, seductive and alluring in some respects and nightmarish in others." Itagaki stated soon after launch that the negative reception was down to "poor player skill" rather than the quality of the game itself, later adding that Nintendo of America had let reviewers down by not making the online mode fully playable prior to release.
That particular game was created at Valhalla Game Studios, the outfit he established after parting company with Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo) in 2008. He resigned from Valhalla in 2017, and has revealed in off-cuts of an interview with Bloomberg (which he has shared on his own Facebook page) that he's been working on developing younger talent for the past few years:
For the past four years, I’ve been teaching to foster juniors, but now I feel like I want to make a game again and just established a company for that purpose.
Itagaki has now established a new studio – Itagaki Games – but if you're one of the few people hoping that he's about to reunite with Nintendo and create Devil's Third 2 for Switch, you might be disappointed. Itagaki seems keener to work with Microsoft and rekindle the relationship which began back when the original Xbox console was launched. When asked about Xbox fans waiting to see what he does next, he replied:
You can count on me for that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have accepted an interview for this Xbox article... I know Microsoft is still aggressive. If they reach out to me, it will be an honor for me.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 41
Devil's Fourth
Wait, he actually said it was the players fault that the game was stupidly unplayable?
Damn, that guy really hates people
4 years of constipation.
We've already got our fair share of shovelware releasing on Switch without his contribution so I'm pretty content with him going back to making Xbox games.
I will always be curious to see what he does, as Ninja Gaiden is a pretty close to perfect game. I also remember Dead or Alive 3 and Xtreme Beach Volleyball being quite good from a gameplay perspective on the OG Xbox. Unfortunately the guy does have some questionable opinions and extravagances, so hopefully he can reign those in and rediscover the incredible gameplay that made him who he was. Not gonna hold my breath for that though lol.
Hi there Dan here worlds only non ironic fan of Devils Third wishing we would see more games like this on Switch.
Everyone here wanting a creator to "reign in his opinions" about the audience in order to create, you are welcome to shove this. And as an actual sociopath myself, reading insinuations like "this guy really hates people" is pretty laughable, too.
On the subject, I'd certainly prefer the new game on Switch (as with, uh, everything else), but it's not for me to decide. Although considering the journeys of more than a few former XBox exclusive in the past few years... who knows?
Poor Player skill? I almost beat that game. It was just a mediocre game, much weaker than Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2.
Will keep my eyes on what he comes up with. I actually really enjoyed Devil's Third for the Multiplayer, i still do a run through the silly story mode every now and again too. Yeah it wasn't "great" and the performance clearly needed improving, but the core ideas within the gameplay were fine. Doing a gun slide into a leaping katana slice was always fun though, especially in multiplayer.
This guy is like Japanese Romero. Created cool games in past, but then he is tried to out-edge himself and gloriously failed.
Maybe scaling down and making something in a vein of "No More Heroes" would be better idea, than trying your luck again with M$.
Hopefully he makes a great game again. His games are often filled with good content, but some areas are bit flawed here and there.
@nhSnork
Couldn't agree more, the arrogance of some people is beyond belief. 'Think like me or else.' Screw that, Devil's Third sucked but before that Itagaki had made plenty of good games, hopefully he doesn't change.
I remember playing Devil's Third as curiosity got the better of me and bought it digitally. Rather than a sequel, I was probably in the small percentage who wanted a Switch port. Enjoyed my time with the game.
@bluemage1989 Make that two non-ironic fans here.
I don’t know why people here are so against him making more games, just because Devil’s Third was a bit of a mess. Ninja Gaiden is absolutely brilliant and him going to MS would make perfect sense given their history with the series and the fact they have Ninja Theory now as well. Would be cool to see what else he has up his sleeves.
Devil’s third multi player was awesome. Main campaign was awful 😆
Looking forward to the Game Grumps playthrough.
I agree that it was a very underrated good game, with some flaws. it did not deserve hate like it got and probably wouldn’t have been if it, like bayonetta 2, was on other consoles.
@Donutman
Now that latter part I can agree with. As I think that it would've got wayyyy less hate if it remained multi console. Though just in the spirit of keeping things real, it really wasn't too good a game. Like many others, I did have some fun with the multiplayer portions for sure.
I'd like a new Ninja Garden myself! Ryu has been away for far too long. Heck a trilogy collection of the modern series on switch wouldn't be unwelcome. Get on that at least.
Oh god not more!
I was honestly thinking about giving Devil's third a chance. I'll just keep my expectations very low.
Devil's Third was alright but I hope Tomonobu Itagaki could make a great comeback in the gaming scene. His games were never the same since he left Tecmo and it seems Tecmo doesn't know how to evolve his work so we got crap like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge and Dead or Alive 6 both which plays mediocre at best and would had been fantastic had Itagaki handle both instead.
You gotta admit though. Razors edge was far better than the vanilla version. I honestly liked it quite alot! Nothing touches the first one though!
Devil's Third was actually a decent game. It's campaign was... passable but the multiplayer was fantastic.
I would love to see it ported to Switch just to play it online again.
@Sunsy Make that 3 non-ironic fans. Devil’s Third is a flawed gem. Still no game has married brawler and gunplay better. It was so over the top, ridiculous and irreverent - and at a time when most action games were dull cover shooters that took themselves way too seriously. I should have been remembered as a punk rock B-movie cult classic, but the media sank it for what really seemed like to take Itagaki’s ego down a peg. He’s not wrong that the media not having access to the online mode was a disservice, but can you remember any outlet withholding their reviews? Me neither.
You know something?
I really enjoyed that game!
It had its problems but it war fun!
@mariomaster96 No, no, no. Devil's Half.
This is not the news you were looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.
Still have a copy of Devil's Third sealed! And considering the price this game is at for some reason it will probably stay that way for a bit.
Really enjoyed Ninja Garden (even 3 Razors Edge) so I'm curious what his next project is but please make sure it's polished before realise...
I enjoyed Devil’s Third for what it was. It was certainly flawed but not unplayable or unbeatable.
Sounds like an ass. Don't blame the players... You make games for players. What a weirdo.
One of my biggest regrets was missing the multiplayer for this game before Nintendo shut down the servers. I'm another unironic fan of this game, it wasn't perfect, but man it had a lot of cool ideas and gameplay packed into it.
This is probably the best review I've seen about the game:
https://www.reddit.com/r/devils_third/comments/4emb5p/devils_third_indepth_review_by_an_average_gamer/
I hope they do well. At times I remember how this game was roasted (I didn't play it, só I wouldn't know) and feel kinda bad for the director
The Tommy Washeu of gaming returns.
I actually really love DEVIL'S THIRD. The analog aiming and framerate needed so much work, but the underlying concept was fantastic; a third person melee/shooter with the ability to climb up pretty much anything. These mechanics created some of the best multiplayer gaming moments I ever had.
Surprised we don't already have a Switch port yet.
The game is so expensive on Wii U due to low print run.
This guy kinda seems like he was another John Romero. A well known larger than life game developer of some old legendary games that really hit his peak in popularity and stopped producing great games.
It's good that he prefers to work with microsoft since he had some games of his in the classic xbox, and not to mention that with the xbox it would be all perfect since he wouldn't need to make a huge Dawngrade in the game to be able to run on the switch. On the xbox you wouldn't need it since the console has plenty of power. Hopefully microsoct will buy it soon.
Never understood the hate devil's third got, I found it perfectly playable and loved the over the top action and violence.
I even liked the online, man I wish the server's were still up for that and conduit 2, they were the good ol days
I have a question. What was he doing during all of this time between Devil's Third release and now? What was his work? I'm just curious because it seems he wasn't making a game before now.
@jowe_gv it seems he was teaching videogame development in Tokyo.
Devil's Third is awesome btw
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