It’s the end of an era for Capcom’s biggest fighting franchise. Yoshinori Ono, producer and driving force behind Street Fighter, has announced that he’s leaving the company this summer. Obviously, this has big implications for the sixth installment, which is reportedly in development.
“I’ve been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times,” Ono wrote in a tweet to fans this morning. “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.”
— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) August 9, 2020
“And now, after serving almost 30 years at Capcom, I am leaving the company in this summer. This means that I will resign my position as the brand manager for Capcom’s various titles including Street Fighter.”
Ono has been working on the Street Fighter franchise since 1998, but it wasn’t until the success of Street Fighter IV – the series’ transition to 3D – that fans began seeing him as the godfather of the franchise. Ono also had a hand in Mega Man, Devil May Cry, and other popular Capcom games.