Today, Delightworks announced on its website that it has appointed Yoshinori Ono, longtime former Capcom developer and Street Fighter producer, as its new president and COO as of May 1st (via Gematsu). Akihito Shouji, Delightworks’ founder and current president, will become the company’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) on the same day. The move marks the end of Ono’s 30 year career at Capcom, where he served as the producer of Street Fighter for over a decade. In Ono’s time on the franchise, he oversaw Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 5.

Ono’s departure from Capcom isn’t surprising. He announced that he would be leaving the company last year. The announcement came shortly after rumors surfaced that Street Fighter 6, which had been planned for a 2021 release date, had been pushed back after internal testing and that Ono, supposedly the game’s director, had been removed from the project.

“On May 1st, I will be moving from Capcom to another company. I’m going to be working at a studio that is a little different from the one I’m used to. I’m also going to be looking at development from a different perspective than in the past,” Ono said on Twitter. Ono also said that while there “may be some distance” between him and the fighting game community for “a while,” he’s eager to get involved again when he can.

Upon hearing the announcement, Japan-based analyst Dr. Serkan Toto noted that Delightworks, the developer behind smartphone smash hit Fate/Grand Order, is one of Japan’s last privately-owned large-scale mobile studios. Toto believes that Delightworks might have lured Ono there with the promise of an IPO.

Street Fighter 4 revitalized both the series itself and the fighting game genre. Ono’s Capcom legacy would have been impressive if he’d just worked on Street Fighter, but he also worked on Devil May Cry, Marvel vs. Capcom, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, and Breath of Fire, among others. It’s odd to see him at a mobile studio, but it will be interesting to see what he cooks up while he’s there.

Delightworks is one of the few remaining mobile gaming companies in Japan that are scaled but still private.

This is the developer behind Sony's smartphone mega hit Fate/Grand Order.

My guess is they lured Ono with the prospect of an IPO, but what's strange is he became COO. https://t.co/BiuS1JJo16

— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) April 27, 2021

The last Onimusha game was released all the way back in 2006- and since then, fans have been falling over themselves, demanding a new entry in Capcom’s beloved cult classic action franchise. But in spite of the fact that the series was largely a success (the first game sold over 2 million copies, and was also the first PlayStation 2 title to break a million copies sold), we haven’t seen tail nor hide of it in recent years.

But that may change soon- in an interview with Daily Star Online, Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono, who is also the producer on the Street Fighter games, including the upcoming Street Fighter V, confirmed that a new game in the franchise is being discussed.

Capcom, purveyors of fighting games that are forever being iterated upon, have stepped up to the plate and teased the entire PlayStation 4 player base with a brand new PS4 game with an announcement coming soon. Not content with merely teasing a game, Jun Takeuchi who has worked on Street Fighter II & Resident Evil etc, has said “It’s gonna be something that will even turn heads overseas.”

Speaking to the highly respected Famitsu magazine, Takeuchi said. “PlayStation 4 development has been ongoing, but the more I use the system the more it seems there is to uncover. SCE has made a really incredible system for us.”

He then goes on to use the old Square Enix line, “please look forward to it” and then laughs and says “I realize that’s obnoxious”. What a champ.

Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono is said to be working on a second game whilst he works on Deep Down, so it’s entirely possible that this is the next game. Who knows? Just get hype.

[Source]

Yoshinori Ono, the producer from Capcom who is behind their flagship Street Fighter (and related spin off) series, has been teasing a new PlayStation 4 game for a while now (although he has also been trying, not very discreetly, to cover his tracks); fans have been hoping for news about the game, and Ono realized that ‘time would tell’ what the new game is, and also hinted that it might not be at the Tokyo Game Show, which starts in Japan later this month.

Also not at the Tokyo Game Show- Deep Down, at least in a playable capacity, something that Ono professed to be deeply apologetic about: “We apologize that we don’t have playable demo in this TGS,” he said.

… right. I really like Ono, and I actually don’t even mind Capcom unlike so many people out there, but the company’s a mess. Deep Down was announced so long ago, and at this point, it’s been plagued by so many constant delays and disappearances that it is fast trending towards ‘vaporware’ status.

Yesterday, we broke the news to you that Capcom’s legendary designer Yoshinori Ono had left his job at Capcom Vancouver, and possibly Capcom as a whole, which would have been the end of an era. Ono is known best for his work on the Street Fighter (and associated) series of fighting games.

As it turns out, he may have quit his gig at Capcom Vancouver, but he is still working at Capcom proper- he seems to be currently working on an as yet unannounced PS4 game, according to his LinkedIn profile. According to his Twitter, “My position within Capcom has not changed and I’m still involved in all of the projects that I’m currently working on. Only my role for Capcom Vancouver has ended.”

Presumably, whatever game he is working on for PlayStation 4 will also be coming out for Xbox One, as Capcom releases very few exclusives these days. Stay tuned for updates anyway.

It’s somewhat understandable, given that the original Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4 didn’t make their way to the Wii. The latter did find itself on the Nintendo 3DS however, and while dwindling support for third party developers could be explained as the cause, Capcom are still bringing games like Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate to the Wii U.

Of course, it could just be that there are more established players on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC than on the Wii U. So why take risks? Hopefully we’ll see Street Fighter 4 arrive for the console in some form or the other in the coming months.

Four of the characters – Rolento, Poison, Hugo and Elena – have already been revealed. But Capcom teased that the fifth character would be brand new and never before seen in the Street Fighter series.

Naturally expectations went wild, with some people thinking that Asura from Asura’s Wrath would be the fifth character. However, producer Yoshinori Ono confirmed on Twitter that it wasn’t him. Despite the fact that we saw Crappy Mega Mean – infamous for appearing on the box art of the first few games and immediately making the Blue Bomber out to look like a creepy old man – in Street Fighter X Tekken, it’s not him/it either.

Any more guesses at this point? Our money is on Strider. Because Strider. Ultra Street Fighter 4 will be releasing on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.