Street Fighter 5 alumni and Capcom veteran Yoshinori Ono is leaving the company after 30 years.
Though Ono stopped short of clarifying why he was leaving or what his next steps might be, he thanked the teams and individuals he's worked with across the three decades he was employed at the developer and said a "new generation will continue taking care of the Street Fighter brand".
"I've been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times," Ono said in a statement on his Twitter account (thanks, VGC). "My heart is filled with appreciation to those players who've been giving warm and kind support on the brand especially little over the past decade or so as all the activities on the Street Fighter brand regained sunshine and grew its liveliness.
pic.twitter.com/ym2pFtgZqyAugust 9, 2020
"And now, after serving almost 30 years at Capcom, I am leaving the company in this summer," the statement continues. "This means that I will resign my position as the brand manager for Capcom's various titles including Street Fighter.
"Capcom staff in the new generation will continue taking care of the Street Fighter brand and leading the World Warriors," he added." And, I do believe that they will continue making Street Fighter extraordinary. I will look forward to seeing the new Street Fighter brand and how it's going to be expanded, as just one of regular gamers next time."
After a rather quiet first half of 2019 for Street Fighter 5, Capcom walked the fighting game back into the spotlight at Evo 2019, where three new fighters were to be revealed: E. Honda, Lucia, and Poison. Unfortunately for Capcom, the new characters were leaked on Steam just days before the big event, but the news at least confirmed that Street Fighter 5 was still alive and well, much to fans' delight.
See how Street Fighter 5 ranks in our list of the 25 best fighting games to play right now.
