Originally a division within Tecmo founded by Tomonobu Itagaki known as Tecmo Creative #3. Originally built to compete with Sega's Virtua Fighter with the Dead or Alive Series. In 1999 they were renamed to Team Ninja and started development on the Ninja Gaiden reboot. Team Ninja is now known for Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive, and It's collection of action games, but often has found itself aligning with other franchises such as Metroid: Other M, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, and Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin