Team Ninja in Turmoil?

36 More May Resign, Sue Tecmo for Back Bonuses

In a valiant example of Follow the Leader, the problems Tecmo has with Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki may soon not be exclusive to him.

1UP is reporting as rumor that as many as 36 Team Ninja members are prepared to tender their resignation and walk out the door with Itagaki. Further, those members may join him in a class action lawsuit that claims all of them were not paid promised bonuses by the company for completing games.

As if disgruntled employees weren’t enough, Tecmo may be in trouble with Japanese law. There, the news of a lawsuit filed against a publicly traded company must be relayed to shareholders. That did not happen in this case. Mr. Itagaki’s suit was filed on May 14th. Only when his harsh statement against Tecmo came out on June 2nd was there any public knowledge. It’s unclear what the ramifcations are for such a cover-up.

Suffice to say, this is getting ugly. We will continue to follow developments.