Tomonobu Itagaki was instrumental in the development of the Dead or Alive fighting series, which helped make Tecmo a successful worldwide game publisher. However, according to him, an event occurred while they were making Dead or Alive 2 for the PS2's Japanese launch in 2000 that nearly made him quit development altogether.
"I developed this game to accomplish the IPO which was the long term strategy of my ex-company's founder," Itagaki said, speaking through an interpreter according to GI.biz. "There was one important problem, there was only two and a half months to develop a launch title. All of the staff, including me, fought for victory with all their energy. But unfortunately the result wasn't what we expected. One day, the sales general manager came to me and said 'can I borrow a copy of this so I can play it?' I said 'sure, go on' and I handed him the disc which was still under development. But the disc was never played by him, instead it was taken into a factory for production on that day without me knowing.”
"To be sure the company made a huge profit and of course the IPO was a success too. But I thought I would quit making games because the incomplete game was released,” he continued. “There were some staff who were relieved, but some of the staff, including me, were so depressed. So after I stayed at home for three or four months and there was nothing for me to do so I just kept drinking. How much did I drink? From morning until night. But no matter how much I drank I never got drunk."
Itagaki said that his family inspired him to keep working, and he returned to make an enhanced version of the game called Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore. He famously had a falling out with the developer in 2008 over unpaid bonuses, and started his own studio Valhalla, which is currently working on Devil's Third for THQ.
"So I became independent and created my own company and became a stock holder myself. Do whatever you want to do and follow your passion," he told the audience. "Not just for self-satisfaction and not just for earning money, make something that change audiences lives. I believe video games have such power."
