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Looks like this is the end of the road for Tecmo!

W

wowfactor

Banned
duckroll said:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080617/tecmo.htm

The two top executives in charge of the labor union within Tecmo is suing a joint suit for unpaid wages. The suit was fighted in the Tokyo District Court yesterday, and 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.

The lawsuit represents the entire company's 300 employees' grievences as a whole, and there might be a 2nd or 3rd wave of lawsuits in regards to the overall employment issue. Looks like the shit has hit the fan, Itagaki haters am cry. Tecmo is finished.
Click to expand...

I think the lawsuit requests a compensation of just $70,000. Tecmo can just write a check and pay for it. But if you ever worked in Japan you would know that over-time is not paid there. If you complain they would say that you do not work hard and they fire you.
 
B

blame space

Banned
2wqgzgl.jpg

shit just got real
 
L

lupinko

Member
wowfactor said:
I think the lawsuit requests a compensation of just $70,000. Tecmo can just write a check and pay for it. But if you ever worked in Japan you would know that over-time is not paid there. If you complain they would say that you do not work hard and they fire you.
Click to expand...

If this is the case then all the brewhahahaha was just blown out of proportion.
 
T

Troidal

Member
And Tecmo throws a jab on Itagaki...with a provisional disposition order.

1. He is not allowed to take confidential information outisde of the company
2. He is not allowed to talk about the business of the company or criticize the business of the company,
3. He is not allowed to make inflammatory remarks which may hurt the company's business,
4. He is not allowed to talk about talk to the media regarding the company's business.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1215957_1124.html
 
N

Nolan.

Member
Troidal said:
And Tecmo throws a jab on Itagaki...with a provisional disposition order.

1. He is not allowed to take confidential information outisde of the company
2. He is not allowed to talk about the business of the company or criticize the business of the company,
3. He is not allowed to make inflammatory remarks which may hurt the company's business,
4. He is not allowed to talk about talk to the media regarding the company's business.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1215957_1124.html
Click to expand...

How will Itagaki live after this! how!.
 
M

Malleymal

You now belong to FMT.
If EA keeps the nfl license let them purchase the rights to tecmo bowl and give me that instead of madden with updated rosters and i can retire from gaming a happy man
 
M

Mr. Pointy

Member
This is how I see it.

Microsoft:
Dead or Alive
Ninja Gaiden
Monster Rancher (because no one gives a fuck about Viva Pinata)

Nintendo:
Fatal Frame
Deception/Kagero (because no one gives a fuck about Luigi's Mansion)
Rygar
Tecmo Bowl (yeah, I dunno how that's gonna work out)

Paon can buy the rest.
 
A

AlternativeUlster

Absolutely pathetic part deux
Mr. Pointy said:
This is how I see it.

Microsoft:
Dead or Alive
Ninja Gaiden
Monster Rancher (because no one gives a fuck about Viva Pinata)

Nintendo:
Fatal Frame
Deception/Kagero (because no one gives a fuck about Luigi's Mansion)
Rygar
Tecmo Bowl (yeah, I dunno how that's gonna work out)

Paon can buy the rest.
Click to expand...

Damn dude, that was almost exactly what I was going to post but I would give Monster Rancher to Sony and same with Deception but I think those franchises would just be dead. I would like Nintendo to use the Tecmo Bowl and rename it Nintendo Bowl or the Pixel Bowl and then they make it like Brawl but with all of Nintendo's franchises and with other third party teams too. Shit would be awesome!
 
S

Superfrog

Member
Tecmo has issued a press release for massive damage control:

http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/06/19/tecmo-slams-false-and-inaccurate-reporting/

On and around June 15, 2008, various websites in the US reported a rumor about “dozens” of development staff members resigning and filing a lawsuit against Tecmo, LTD., following Tomonobu Itagaki’s departure from the company. The rumors are false and no such action is taking place at the company.

On June 16, 2008, two employees filed a lawsuit against Tecmo, LTD. with accusations of withholding overtime pay. Although a lawsuit was filed by the two employees, on April 1, 2008, Tecmo, LTD. did notify all affected employees that they would be appropriately compensated and is currently in the process of resolving the matter. There are several inaccurate reports stating that all 300 company employees are named in the lawsuit and the company would like to clarify that only two employees are involved in the suit.

In addition, there were reports that Tecmo, LTD., a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, withheld information from its shareholders regarding the lawsuit filed in May 2008 by Tomonobu Itagaki. The company has observed the provisions defined by the Exchange and has released information accordingly and in a timely manner.

It is unfortunate that false and inaccurate reporting of our organization and employees’ actions have caused some unrest among our development staff members. Tecmo, LTD. would like to assure its partners and loyal fans that its teams continue to focus and work on several projects to be released and announced in the future. The company is committed to providing high quality, entertaining products for our fans around the world.
Click to expand...
 
S

Superfrog

Member
lol, seems as if it's getting worse and worse for Tecmo...

Hard Proof That Tecmo Japan Is Lying? (This Seems Like It)

Things are going from bad to worse for Tecmo. First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki announced he was leaving and suing Tecmo, while a totally separate lawsuit has been filed against Tecmo by Hiroaki Ozawa and co-plaintiff Tatsuki Tsunoda. Ozawa is the Tecmo Labor Union leader and Ninja Gaiden 2 lead engineer, while Tsunoda is the Ninja Gaiden 2 level design lead. Two key Team Ninja members! That alone does not bode well for Tecmo. But, this isn't just a story of two guys trying to get some overtime, but also apparently of deception, falsified statements and a dead, beloved company president. There's concrete evidence in the plaintiff's claims — so concrete that it could very well be the silver bullet for Tecmo's current upper management.
Click to expand...

More through this link: http://kotaku.com/5017831/hard-proof-that-tecmo-japan-is-lying-this-seems-like-it
 
P

Pachael

Member
Superfrog said:
lol, seems as if it's getting worse and worse for Tecmo...



More through this link: http://kotaku.com/5017831/hard-proof-that-tecmo-japan-is-lying-this-seems-like-it
Click to expand...

Shit, there's a lot of crap in there.

The following day, Ozawa clarified their lawsuit with Japanese website IT Media, explaining what it means for the entire company: "There are only two employees bringing this suit, but our accusations encompass all 300 employees, and if Tecmo doesn't immediately address the issue and correct the problem, we are ready to start a second and a third class action suit." Hiroaki Ozawa is an official representative of the labor union, having been elected with a majority vote from amongst the 300 employees. That's why, when he says that he is prepared for a 2nd or 3rd wave of class-action suits, you can take him seriously — he has been voted in by a majority of Tecmo employees.
Click to expand...

More lawsuits may be incoming (this counters the Tecmo response above)

The evidence the plaintiffs submitted in their suit seems to indicate that Yoshimi Yasuda, president of Tecmo Co. Ltd., falsified contracts relating to overtime work, illegally withholding payment of wages to 300 employees over the course of the past 2 years. Before Ozawa was elected democratically by Tecmo employees, a figurehead Tecmo Union leader was in place, pushing through measures that employees did not agree to and did not have a voice in. Measures like the overtime and flex time "agreements".. Despite Yasuda’s direct involvement with this deception, he attempted to shift responsibility by claiming that this was the fault of the founder and former chairman of Tecmo, now deceased, stating he was told not to hold an election and just pick someone to head the Tecmo Labor Union. The leaders of the labor union who discovered this impropriety have filed suit. They are seeking damages of approximately 4,160,000 yen each.But what is the crux of their argument? How much water does it hold? The answer: A lot, it seems. And this case might be more open-and-closed that Tecmo is ready to admit.
Click to expand...

That's only $12.5 million for the employees (using 100 yen = $1).

Still, something's afoot. Kotaku has got lots of links to documents relating to the lawsuit.
 
GrayFoxPL

GrayFoxPL

Member
I'm always for the Empire.

Crush those rebel scums Lord Tecmoder!

Destroy! Destroy their lives and lives of their families!

Make them pay!

Mwa......mwahahahahahahahah!

Yes! More! Stomp those pitiful bugs! Let them fear you!

GHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHHAHAH!
 
N

Nolan.

Member
This is why it's so hard to believe a lot of things you read from press releases these days. Tecmo is saying one thing, whilst ''allegedly'' trying to shut itagaki up. Though the other guy is saying the opposite of what Tecmo seems to want people to believe.
 
C

Carlisle

Member
This sounds like a typical Japanese company to me. You're scheduled from 9 to 4, but if you don't volunteer to stay until 10 sans the overtime pay, you're effed. You're not fired, but you're seen as disloyal and not a team player, so your boss makes your life suck even more. It's perfectly normal working culture out here.

Only this time, someone with an attitude decided it wasn't fair. Hopefully this scares other companies into being a little more fair with their employees' time and lives. But I doubt it.
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
was this posted?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=jpconewsstory&refer=jpconews&tkr=7974:JP&sid=a3cAzeFsMM8A

translation:

http://n4g.com/industrynews/News-171094.aspx

Yasuda, the president of Tecmo, announced to Bloomberg Japan today that Team NINJA with it's new leader has been appointed to work on a big budget title game with a new genre, and is expected to be completed next year.

With the absence of Itagaki, the team has taken on a new motto for game development, "New Title, New Genre, New Location, New Leader".

Team NINJA's new game will not follow Tecmo's past game genres like Fighting, Action, or Horror Adventure; instead they will focus on a brand new genre and focus on targeting the western audience, though details can not be disclosed at this time...

the new leaders (there are two of them) of Team NINJA are Jin Hasegawa (Project Manager/CG Team Leader in various Fatal Frame projects) and Yousuke Hayashi (Director for Ninja Gaiden Sigma).
Click to expand...
 
P

Pachael

Member
I think people suspected Hayashi to stick around and become the new head boss (co-boss), but Hasegawa's new - probably a good thing anyway.

As for the new genre, I wonder what it could be if it's not fighting, action, or horror adventure. RPG? Platformer? Sports?

This may put the kebosh on statements that claim the team is leaving with Itagaki, but I'm not totally sure. On the downside, that does mean that the existing franchises probably aren't being worked on, and Cronus is probably on death watch.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Hayashi taking over and Hagesawa being dragged into Team Ninja means that Hiroaki Matsui and Katsunori Ehara most definitely left Tecmo with Itagaki. Otherwise there's no reason why they wouldn't be the ones taking over having directed or co-directed every Itagaki game.
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
duckroll said:
Hayashi taking over and Hagesawa being dragged into Team Ninja means that Hiroaki Matsui and Katsunori Ehara most definitely left Tecmo with Itagaki. Otherwise there's no reason why they wouldn't be the ones taking over having directed or co-directed every Itagaki game.
Click to expand...
so the google translation is correct?

damn, no wonder itagaki dissed hayashi in that article, guess he knew about this all along.
 
M

M3wThr33

Banned
I could be wrong, but I never had doubts when he left. He was 1:1 with Tecmo's name so a departure for him really would take a lot.
 
P

permutated

Banned
Dear Tecmo,

Please fix the myriad of Ninja Gaiden 2 technical problems before your company dies. Please sell Itagaki the Ninja Gaiden property rights as well.

Thanks,
Your friends at Gaf
 
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