Almost two weeks ago the head of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, left Tecmo and planned on suing them for 148 million yen (approx $1.4 million) worth of unpaid bonuses.

But that wasn't the last of Tecmo's problems.

It looks like Itagaki wasn't the only member of Team Ninja who didn't get his promised bonuses. Over three dozen members of the team claim that they were not paid their bonuses after the making of various games. They all plan on leaving and individually suing Tecmo.

Tecmo claims that Team Ninja is 'intact' and that they have many new games on the way but with such a large portion of the team leaving, it's safe to say that Team Ninja isn't 'intact' and Tecmo's biggest franchises will never be the same again.

In case you thought Team Ninja's former boss, Tomonobu Itagaki, was leaving game publisher Tecmo as a solo act of attrition, think again. If that act was a single shot across Tecmo's bow, here comes the fusillade. Word on the street is that key members of Team Ninja -- as many as three dozen or more -- are headed out the door as well, but that's not all. It seems that each one of the soon to be ex-ninjas will be serving Tecmo with a class-action lawsuit in regards to unpaid bonuses for completed games.

Miss Razz via 1up.com »