Street Fighter Head Leaves Capcom After Nearly 30 Years

Longtime Street Fighter lead Yoshinori Ono has announced he will leave Capcom at the end of April, bringing his nearly 30 years with the company to a close.

Ono is set to join Delightworks, the studio behind the popular Fate/Grand Order mobile game. It's also set to publish Melty Blood: Type Lumina, a 2D fighting game, later this year. Ono will serve as president and COO of the studio.

"I'm going to be working at a studio that is a little different from the one I'm used to," Ono wrote on Twitter. "I'm also going to be looking at development from a different perspective than in the past."

"there may be some distance between me and everyone at FGC for a while. I may be away from the FGC for a while, but I'm looking forward to spending time with you again when I get the chance. I appreciate your continuing support."

Ono has worked on the Street Fighter series since its earliest days. He first worked on Street Fighter Alpha, released in 1995, as a sound programmer — though he didn't receive a credit for it at the time. He made his greatest impact on the series as project manager for Street Fighter IV, an initially divisive title that has since grown to be one of the most beloved in the series.

More recently, Ono helped Capcom weather the disastrous launch of Street Fighter V in 2016, slowly righting the ship in the years since.

"I've been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times. 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," Ono wrote in a farewell Tweet.

Capcom is now rumored to be working on Street Fighter 6. It's not yet clear who will step into Ono's shoes as the head of the franchise, but his leadership will be sorely missed, and his replacement will need to work to build the level of trust and respect Ono shared with the Street Fighter community