In the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki submitted evidence that included an affidavit from Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto, a contract from 2005 that seems to clearly state terms of the Dead or Alive 4 bonus and a voice recording of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda. Itagaki is suing Tecmo over unpaid DoA4 wages.

Kotaku obtained copies of both the secret recording and the contract and translated both for this story.

The contract, dated March 4th 2005, covers "special incentives" for Dead or Alive 4. The "special incentives" program was proposed by the former president of Tecmo (the president before current president Yoshimi Yasuda) where all employees would receive a certain percentage of the profits from a big-selling game. The profit points would be distributed among members of the team with the highest share going to the senior employees. In the DoA4 contract Itagaki submitted, it clearly states that he is entitled to 6.66 percent of the earned profits from the project.

On January 22nd of this year, Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto taped a conversation with president Yasuda. Why was the producer of Ninja Gaiden II recording conversations with the president of Tecmo? According to Okamoto's affidavit, Yasuda had continually harassed him, calling him an "idiot", stating he was "no good" and saying that Okamoto "had no class." Okamoto claims that he asked for a meeting with Yasuda so that he could understand why he was so negative towards him. During this meeting, Okamoto secretly recorded their conversation. (Note: Okamoto has since left the company and had been contemplating doing so for some time.)

And during this meeting, current president Yasuda admits that the special bonus incentive had in fact been submitted and approved by the board of directors before he became president and while he was still section director. Yasuda says that the special incentive scheme had been discussed and a ringi (a type of Japanese corporate approval form) had been signed by the board of directors. This is in direct conflict with Yasuda's court claim that this "special incentives" proposal was made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. Therefore, it is invalid. The recording helps support Itagaki's claim that this special incentive bonus was approved by Tecmo's former president and the board of directors, and that the current president knows this.

Also, during the conversation, Yasuda called Itagaki a "money grubber" because of the developer's desire to be paid incentives that had been approved by Tecmo. Yet in court, Yasuda has denied calling Itagaki a "money grubber." In Itagaki's statement, the game designer says that this audio recording is only a small part of concrete evidence he has. "I am prepared to reveal this evidence as the need arises for the sake of greater justice," Itagaki states.

We have contacted both Itagaki's representatives and Tecmo for comment on the story.

This morning about 10:00 a.m. Tokyo Time, the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced. As we broke early last month, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

In a statement Itagaki released today, he has now increased his claim for damages against Tecmo from the previously announced figure of 148,000,000 yen to 164,000,095 yen. In American money, that's an increase from $1.38 million to $1.53 million. The reason for the increase is due to new developments in the case Itagaki revealed today.

In the statement Itagaki released in early June, he announced that he would be leaving Tecmo on July 1st. However, today it came to light that Itagaki was actually fired from Tecmo on June 18th — only weeks after he announced the suit. It's obviously possible to assume this termination was in retaliation to the lawsuit over bonuses he claimed he deserved. What's more, this preemptive act on Tecmo's part could also be seen as a way for the company to get out of paying Itagaki his fixed summer bonus and yearly incentives. According to Itagaki's statement released today, those were to be paid on June 30th. They of course were not.

Apparently, no reason was given for Itagaki's termination, and according to him, he was "terminated without reasonable cause." The claim increase Itagaki is asking for simply reflects the wages he should have earned at the end of this June had he not been fired by the company. Under Japanese law, Itagaki can also claim 14.6 percent per year back interest for the Dead or Alive 4 unpaid wages and bonuses. Itagaki has said he plans to do so.

Remember that four point gag-order Tecmo tried to slap Itagaki with? The company had simply filed for a gag-order, and it wasn't yet granted and didn't actually go into effect. Today as the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced in which Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing over supposed unpaid wages, it was revealed that Tecmo had already rescinded the gag-order on July 7th. But, did Tecmo publicly announce that it was withdrawing the gag-order filing?

Under Japanese law, the plaintiff does have the right to withdraw filing for a gag-order at anytime. In a statement released today, Itagaki said he wanted to give Tecmo a chance to announce that it had in fact withdrawn the gag-order. Two weeks passed, and Itagaki included Tecmo's gag-order withdrawal in the evidence he submitted for today's arguments. According to Itagaki, he regrets that it was he (and not Tecmo) who had to make this publicly known, but he states he did that so all the facts were known publicly.

Itagaki speculates that Tecmo withdrew the petition because the company knew it would be shot down and wanted to avoid the bad publicity. As Itagaki says in his statement:

From the outset, the claims made in this petition had changed repeatedly in a short period of time, causing me to wonder what they would claim next; apparently Tecmo and its president Yoshimi Yasuda finally realized that their petition would most likely be denied, and before the fourth round of debates regarding its merit were held the claim was withdrawn unexpectedly.

Continuing "it is clear that this self-centered behavior by Tecmo Co. Ltd. and its president Yoshimi Yasuda, from the filing of the petition to its subsequent withdrawal, was an attempt to increase my own personal burden in both time and funds needed to combat the petition."

Stay tuned as we break down the rest of today's Itagaki V. Tecmo news this morning.