Microsoft thanks Itagaki for support
Tecmo says his pants are on fire.
Microsoft has publicly thanked Tomonobu Itagaki for his Xbox support following his dramatic departure from Tecmo yesterday.
"Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave Tecmo and Team Ninja to pursue other opportunities. We thank Tomonobu Itagaki for the many years he has supported Xbox as he has contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole," the platform hold told Kotaku.
Itagaki was outspoken in his support for Xbox and Xbox 360 despite the relative indifference of many of his Japanese peers. "There's no launch titles that create within me an urge to search all over Tokyo to find a PS3 so I can play them," he once told 1UP.
However, Tecmo has hit back at Itagaki in a statement reported by IGN, alleging that Itagaki's claims of damages are the product of "distortions". The developer also says it paid out bonuses to Itagaki in line with company policy and that the "completion bonus" he claims to be owed is a relic of the previous regime.
Tecmo added that Team Ninja - Itagaki's development team - has commenced work on new titles.