Tomonobu Itagaki (板垣 伴信 Itagaki Tomonobu?) is a Japanese video game designer who created the Dead or Alive fighting games and the Ninja Gaiden 3D titles. He also has a reputation for making frank comments, negative and positive, on other developers and video games. Joining Tecmo in 1992, Itagaki produced two video game franchises that were commercial successes and earned him several promotions; he headed Tecmo's development team, Team Ninja, and sat on the executive board. He left the company after 16 years of service, filing a lawsuit against it for withholding bonus pay. His new team, comprising other Team Ninja members, is currently working on a new game.