Longtime producer, and someone who has served as a face of Street Fighter and Capcom's fighting game division, Yoshinori Ono, leaves Capcom today, ending nearly three decades of service. He will also no longer be the brand manager. Ono made the announcement on Twitter:

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— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) August 9, 2020

Ono is highly credited among the fighting game community for the resurgence of the fighting games and breathing life back into the genre in 2008 and 2009 with the home ports of Street Fighter IV after the boom period of 2D sprite-based fighters seemed to have ended towards the twilight years of Street Fighter III Third Strike and Marvel vs Capcom 2 in the early 2000s, the former which mostly thrived in arcades. With no viable home ports of the Street Fighter III series, the flagship fighter stagnated and failed to resonate with a casual audience. Through the updates of Street Fighter IV, Ono became viewed as the godfather of the franchise.

Though viewed as a controversial figure at times, Ono is noted for his passionate energy and ambition through development and reception at live Capcom Pro Tour events. He began work with Capcom in 1994 as a sound engineer, and has developed and produced on over 30 titles including Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Onimusha Dawn of Dreams, Street Fighter V, and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite. Blanka has always been his favorite Street Fighter character, an it's seldom that he isn't seen without his "Blanka-Chan", an old Blanka toy that he always carries around. 

In 2018, it was announced that Ono had been replaced as head of Capcom's fighting game division by Ryozo Tsujimoto, the founder of the Monster Hunter series, but Ono still attended live events and acted as a spokesman for Capcom hosting character reveals and cash prizes at Combo Breaker, Final Round, EVO, and CEO. 

Here is Ono's full statement:

Dear Street Fighter series' players & Fighting Game Community members

There have been many unexpected events occurred globally in 2020. Especially the COVID-19 has been significantly affecting many people's life and health all over the world. I'm praying that all of you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy.

Since Capcom Cup in 2013, the Capcom Pro Tour has become an annual event because of the continued tremendous support from the players and Fighting Game Community members in the world.

We at Capcom had many internal discussions about the format for the CPT 2020. It took a long time for us to decide the format for this year, but we believe that conducting the event itself would repay those who has been supporting the CPT, regardless of what the format is.

Needless to say, I understand there has been some criticism about this particular format. However, I'm fully convinced that it is important to shed light on various hopes by keeping the event even in this way.

Additionally, I'm extremely grateful that so many players and Fighting Game Community members and its related individuals have been supporting us so that we can make the CPT happen this year.

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.

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.

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 regular gamers next time around.

I've been trying to contact those whom I've gotten to work with in the past about my resignation. However, it's quite difficult to reach out to all of 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.

Again, to many players, FGC and its operation staff, and all of Street Fighter fans, thank you so much for your continued support. I regret that I as the Street Fighter series executive producer, wasn't able to do "SHORYUKEN" together with you all at each event in 2020, so please allow me to shout as my closing statement in this message to you.

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SHORYUKEN!