Woah! Say it ain’t so! This news is a heartbreaker. (Sorry,
that was awful and I know it.)
Following on the heel’s of our news from almost two weeks
ago of the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki from Tecmo, the story delivers us
another tremendous one-two punch combo to the gut. The first blow was struck by
the Tecmo staff, the second by their corporate slave-masters. It seems that
Tecmo as a company may be in a crap-load of trouble, and that can only mean bad
news for us gamers who love their products.
Two weeks ago, Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo, citing disputes
over unpaid benefits and ‘emotional damages’. What these damages were was
unclear; what WAS clear was that Tecmo had just lost their main idea man,
responsible for everything from Ninja Gaiden to Dead or Alive, basically
everything good Tecmo ever released.
While there were rumors that a few of Tecmo’s other
developers would join Itagaki in his protest of the company, no one was
prepared for the ENTIRE STAFF OF 300 to walk out on their jobs Tuesday, and
file a class action law-suit against the company. That’s right folks, Tecmo has
essentially closed its doors.
The suit claims that Tecmo’s corporate leaders instituted a
‘sliding schedule’ program four years ago that essentially gipped the workers
out of 100 hours of overtime every month. The company is claimed to have
violated many labor laws, and then illegally doctored their paper work to cover
it up. Government business investigators are looking into the claims now. The
suit would require Tecmo to pony up $77,000. I’m no expert I
assume that’s to each employee (I can’t find a place in the suit that
specifies it…but pretty likely.).
Tecmo then made their move today by placing a four part
injunction against Itagaki that functions as a gag-order, preventing him from
speaking about the company or revealing company secrets in any way that might
damage Tecmo, under threat of legal action. Tecmo is digging trenches and looks
to be preparing to go to court to fight the suit, rather than settle. Their
gagging Itagaki would be the first step in stopping slander from reaching a
jury, or having the company image be ruined for their post-suit business
dealings with partners Sony and Microsoft.
We can only hope that a resolution is reached quickly
and equitably for both sides, so that the industry does not suffer the loss of
one of its pioneers. Tecmo isn’t the most productive company out there, but it
has many memorable titles under its belt. It would be a shame to have their games’
names be sullied by a legal dispute… the DOA movie did that well enough
already.
