Yoshinori Ono has been the Street Fighter Executive Producer and brand manager since 1998. That is over 30 years of managing the most popular fighting game franchise in the world. Unfortunately, today he announced his resignation as the Street Fighter producer.
In his post, Yoshinori Ono took the opportunity to inform fans of the Capcom Pro Tour that instead of a regular event, the event would take a different format this year, due to COVID-19. There was a lot of internal debate regarding this, but Capcom ultimately decided the fans deserved a CPT event. Albeit a different one this year.
A Longtime Street Fighter Executive Producer
Ono seems content handing over the torch to a new generation. “Capcom staff in the new generation will continue taking care of the Street Fighter brand and leading the World Warriors. 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 the regular gamers next time around,” he shared in his open letter to the fans.
Ono also laments the fact he won’t be able to thank everyone he has worked with over the years. “It’s quite difficult to reach out to all the people I’ve associated with throughout my career for almost three decades, so I’d like to humbly ask your kind understanding. When the opportunity comes, I’d like to extend warm greetings and my appreciation to those individuals and companies I’ve had a chance to work with.”
Ono has contributed a lot to the fighting game scene for these 3 decades. He will be sorely missed in the gaming landscape but has left behind an astonishing legacy. Street Fighter remains the world’s most popular fighting game. We can only hope that the series will continue its success and legacy in new hands.