Street Fighter series Producer and Brand Manager Yoshinori Ono has recently announced that he will be leaving Capcom this summer, after almost 30 years at the company, and entrusting the series to a new generation of staff members; looking forward to seeing what they do with the Street Fighter brand.
The news was shared on Twitter by Ono himself, with a heartfelt goodbye message in which he thanks fans for their overwhelming support over the years; particularly in the last decade or so.
Yoshinori Ono joined Capcom in 1993 as a music producer for Saturday Night Slam, although it wouldn't be until 1995 that he would work on the Street Fighter series — working, yet again, as a music producer for another Capcom classic: Street Fighter Alpha.
Ono worked as Producer for a handful of series at Capcom, but it was Street Fighter IV the game that established him as brand manager, in which he worked as both Producer and Project Manager, and has been doing so ever since; being involved in countless Street Figther-related projects.
The video game fighting community has also been very welcoming of Ono, especially since he never missed an opportunity to interact with the audience and the participants, which is something that made fans of the Street Fighter series — and even other video game fighting series — become very fond of him in no time.
It is certainly a bittersweet feeling seeing him leave the company after all of these years, but he's made his choice and fans have already began showning their support, and thanking him for everything he's done for Street Fighter. Likewise, players are as excited as Ono to see what the series has to offer now that new talent will be taking over.