Tecmo possibly facing Obliteration

by Terrence Stasse { Jun 17th 2008 at 3:30AM }

After Itagaki decided to leave due to unpaid bonuses, it looked as though things might just end with that. Then came the rumor that around three dozen employees would follow suit. Now it seems like Tecmo has been dismembered and is just waiting for the inevitable OT. A lawsuit was filed in Tokyo District Court just yesterday on behalf of all 300 of Tecmo's remaining employees, and according to one translation claims that "Tecmo has falsified documents and accounting procedures in regards to employment statuses, overtime pay and various lapses in employment standards when filing documents for labor inspections."

Additionally, a Famitsu article on the same topic also notes that employees were not getting their overtime pay, nor were they well-compensated for working on public holidays. The Google Translation of the original Japanese story is a bit dry and difficult to follow (as is to be expected from a computer translation) but specific words such as "forge" and "impersonation" hint at the kind of trouble Tecmo could be facing before this is all over.

Whatever happens, we just hope that the talent from Tecmo's various projects all end up alright and get the compensation they deserve. We're certainly no experts, but from what we hear, Japanese game devs (heck, game devs in general) are run pretty ragged and really do deserve their bonuses ...

[Via NeoGAF]

Tags: itagaki, lawsuit, tecmo, tomonobu-itagaki

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lewis (GT: StoneRevolver) @ Jun 17th 2008 3:47AM

Best wishes to Tecmo employee's and their soon to be empty wallets/bank accounts.

Dante @ Jun 17th 2008 4:01AM

Well if Tecmo has been screwing basically everyone over as they say, then they deserve whatever lawsuits are filed upon them and hopefully all of their employees get what they're owed. I bet Itagaki is pleased that his quitting gave everyone else the courage of standing up, too.

Maverick Saturn @ Jun 17th 2008 6:22AM

Sounds to me as though they take the 'Fuck the employees attitude'.

Personally, I was glad to see the back of Itakagi, but that doesn't change the fact that he was mistreated and is within his right to sue if whats going on is true.

I fully support his decision if its true.

Boff @ Jun 17th 2008 4:51AM

The plot thickens!! Each bit of news about Tecmo is even worse than the previous one!! What's next?

Hopefully this case, and news of it, will make other Japanese dev studios sit up and take notice? Maybe even treat their staff a bit better?

Well done to the Tecmo employees for standing up to their employer. That can be hard sometimes - especially if you are relying on those pay cheques.

A smell a bargain for MS/MGS! You know it makes sense!!

psyborg @ Jun 17th 2008 5:12AM

I hope they get Tecmo bowl out in time, the only football franchise I'm even remotely interested in.

Grimm @ Jun 17th 2008 5:28AM

That wasn't hard to read at all. You apparently don't speak multiple languages lol. You kinda learn to fix grammar and sentence structure in your head after learning more then one language. Oh and yea Tecmo is fucked up the ass with no vasoline. Say goodbye to that company...*waves*

Maverick Saturn @ Jun 17th 2008 6:19AM

Don't worry people, EA will buy them, EA buys everybody, EA loves you :) And you should love EA.

On a serious note, if they are dismembered, I hope at least the games are taken over by another company, I want thier games to live on :( Although DOA could do with a touch up -_-

Kamizar @ Jun 17th 2008 7:50AM

Well, I for one welcome the new MS studios Japan...

Gemini Ace @ Jun 17th 2008 8:10AM

Wouldn't they be waiting for the inevitable K.O.?

chubytuby @ Jun 17th 2008 8:25AM

pshh drama queens

DjDATZ @ Jun 17th 2008 9:15AM

Yea...they're fuxx0red. LOL

UnwiseDolphin @ Jun 17th 2008 9:23AM

So now I understand Ninja Gaiden's difficulty. Playing Ninja Gaiden II is supposed to be like working in Tecmos programming sweatshops. The giant pile of bones in Chapter 6 is really just a recreation of Team Ninja's office. Many programmers have died from bugs large and small, some were even killed by Tecmo's boss.

DBoyFlex @ Jun 17th 2008 9:26AM

Not to be apathetic to their cause, but what about us? Do we then expect no DLC for our trusty Ryu friend? I mean, I know there is talk about the ninja skins, but anything else? I would love to see some updates for NG2, such as a mission select mode, maybe a slightly tweeked camera. I almost have it good, but a tweek would help. Also, extra options, such as maybe playing the trials from the main menu, maybe a time trial mode from the main menu, score attack something to see how fast you can take out X number of enemies with each weapon etc. Point is, I would really like to see a few improvements in NG and that may not happen if Tecmo disbans.

animeman_59 @ Jun 17th 2008 11:03AM

Looking into my crystal ball:

Microsoft will probably buy the Tecmo name and their IPs. Maybe they'll change the name or something. They'll rehire Itagaki and anybody else from Team Ninja, as well as the rest of the Tecmo staff, and start creating Xbox exclusives in Japan.

What do you guys think? Since Ninga Gaiden is essentially an Xbox title (DOA pretty much appearing only on Xbox now), maybe M$ will have their own in-house Japanese studio.

Knight Marquise @ Jun 17th 2008 12:01PM

If MS has the investment capital, and they do, I would think that to be an excellent move on their part.

ryan @ Jun 17th 2008 12:13PM

don't fuck with the Gak!

Dwag @ Jun 17th 2008 2:54PM

I think they'll most likely buy Team Ninja including Itagaki I don't know about Tecmo as a whole but that I can be assured of due to the fact that Itagaki loved the 360.

But I'm sure Microsoft will buy Team Ninja and the IPs of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive s that no other company can get its hands on it and plus Microsoft needs this they need more First party developers that actually do something other than waste time no disrespect to Lionhead(obvious Online co-op is gonna be that new feature in Fable two) but the rest are time wasters such as Rare are wasting time come on Banjo and Viva. they should have made a new Perfect Dark buy now.

Maybe they will hire Tecmo?

BananaBoat @ Jun 17th 2008 5:02PM

I wonder if this means that they will all quit. I'm sure they could find jobs elsewhere, since their work is of high quality. Whether they do or they don't, I'd say this probably makes the release of any near-term games suspect. (At this point, I'd like to shed a tear for the Dead or Alive Xtreme volleyball games that could have been...)

I'm wondering if it's not just Team Ninja that is involved in the suit. Every single Tecmo employee seems like it would be a little more than 300...but then again, I guess Team Ninja was basically the only thing Tecmo had going for them..so I wouldn't be surprised if the total figure was only 300. Either way this is a massive PR disaster for Tecmo, and probably an operational disaster on top of that. Their stock is probably going to drop more than just 1 dollar a share because of this.... this is probably about as vulnerable to a buyout as they could ever possibly be. Seems like a nice chance to grab up Ninja Gaiden and DOA, fire the executives, and rehire Itagaki (Make it so Microsoft...make it so)

RogueStorm @ Jun 17th 2008 10:10PM

If I didn't suck at video editing, I would cut a video of the "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" scene from 300 that mocked this event at Tecmo. Alas, I suck at video editing.

The Persian messenger would be payroll telling the Tecmo employees (AKA Spartans) that they're not getting their OT checks. Let the hilarity ensue...