Former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo Koei on rough terms, filing a lawsuit against the company for unpaid bonuses and improper treatment. Three years later and Itagaki still isn’t ready to let bygones be bygones, revealing in a DICE speech that Tecmo tricked him into releasing an unfinished build of Dead or Alive 2.

According to a Wired report, Itagaki was given only two and a half months to port Dead or Alive 2 on PS2, so that it could be ready in time for the Japanese hardware launch.

“All of the staff, led by me, fought for a victory with all their energy,” noted Itagaki. “But unfortunately, the result wasn’t what we expected.”

In the interim, a Tecmo Koei staffer asked to borrow a copy of the current build to playtest it. Days later, without Itagaki’s consent or knowledge, the build was sent to a disc-pressing factory for production. Not long after, Itagaki hit rock bottom,as  seeing his work treated in such a manner drove him into depression. He even thought about leaving the industry.

“I thought I would quit making games,” said Itagaki. To cope, he reportedly started drinking constantly and watched repeats of Armageddon with his three-year-old daughter while listening to Aerosmith’s theme song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”

Obviously, Itagaki eventually got over it – releasing Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, which he said matched his vision what the initial product was supposed to be.

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