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Sunday Comics: Dead Island Today, Tecmo Co. Ltd. announced that Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda will resign. The Board of Directors accepted Yasuda’s resignation — which was for “personal reasons”. Starting September 1st, Chairman of the Board Yasuharu Kakihara will assume the position of Tecmo’s president.
Yasuda has been at the centre of the Itagaki vs. Tecmo legal suit. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These were “special incentive” wages that Itagaki claims were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors, but the current president is claiming these “special incentive” wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board.
As we posted earlier, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, “President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me ‘if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.’”
Yesterday, we broke the news that the second round of oral arguments for Itagaki vs. Tecmo commenced in Tokyo. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These were “special incentive” wages that Itagaki claims were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors, but the current president is claiming these “special incentive” wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. As we posted earlier, last month Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, “President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me ‘if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.’”
After the jump, we’ve posted an audio recording submitted into evidence by Tomonobu Itagaki. The recording is of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda and Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto on January 22nd of this year. It was secretly recorded by Ninja Gaiden II producer Okamoto as he claims he was being harassed and called names by president Yasuda. In the recording, Yasuda says, “The board of directors approved it and signed the ringi (a type of Japanese corporate approval form)”. This is in direct conflict with Yasuda’s court claim that this “special incentives” proposal was made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. The recording helps support Itagaki’s claim that his special incentive bonus was approved by Tecmo’s former president and the board of directors, and that the current president knows this.
As we broke earlier today, the second round of oral arguments in the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit commenced. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These “special incentive” wages were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors claims Itagaki, but the current president is claiming these “special incentive” wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. Early last month, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, “President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me ‘if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.’”
We’ve posted all the documentation Tomonobu Itagaki submitted into evidence during the second round of arguments. Itagaki claims he has even more evidence, going as far as stating: “I am prepared to reveal this evidence as the need arises for the sake of greater justice”. The evidence submitted earlier today after the jump. Heads up as there’s lots of big images ready to suck up your bandwidth — and they’re all in Japanese.
Yesterday, Itagaki vs. Tecmo commenced with Itagaki’s lawyer submitting into evidence the contract he had supporting his completion bonus for Xbox 360 title Dead or ALive 4. Tecmo’s lawyers submitted a somewhat identical-looking contract, differing in that it did not support Itagaki’s claims that he was entitled to a completion bonus. Hrm. Someone it seems is lying, and other evidence seems to indicate that Tecmo isn’t exactly being truthful about overtime — which is a totally separate case altogether.
And the Itagaki vs. Tecmo legal battle continues! On June 10th, Tecmo filed with the Tokyo District Court for a “gag-order” against former employee and Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki before the court case begins. The provisional disposition includes the following four points, prohibiting:
• Disclosing or leaking information regarding Tecmo’s game software, sales, development or any other company secrets
• Using newspapers, magazines and the internet to criticise company software and company employees
• Obstructing the company’s business through slanderous remarks to third parties
• Do not accept interviews regarding Tecmo or talk to the press about the company
This gag-order certainly seems in response to the statement Itagaki released to Kotaku and other outlets.
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The Itagaki-Tecmo pissing match may have hit a new level of animosity. 1Up, attributing only “word on the street,” reports that as many as 36 key members of Team Ninja are walking, and preparing a class-action lawsuit against Tecmo regarding unpaid bonuses they were due for completed games.
Earlier this month Tomonobu Itagaki, who leads/led Team Ninja, announced his intention to quit Tecmo, effective July 1. In his announcement he was PO’d about a company decision not to pay bonuses on a completed game, so, chances are his comrades feel the same. Tecmo, for its part, says the bonus to Itagaki that is in dispute was approved by a previous management team, not the current one.
1Up also writes:
