Yoshinori Ono will be leaving Capcom after nearly three decades with the company.The longtime producer, and public face of the Street Fighter games, announced his impending departure on Sunday in a statement he released through Twitter."I've been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times," Ono wrote. "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 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."

Ono joined Capcom's audio team in the 90s, directing the sound for Street Fighter III: Alpha (1998) and  Street Fighter III: Third Strike (1999) before eventually stepping into the producer and executive producer roles for a number of the company's titles, mostly for its fighting games.

He was the producer for Street Fighter IV, the game that both revived the franchise and revitalized the fighting game genre in 2008 after a nearly decade-long lull. Ono then returned to executive produce Street Fighter V, a game that has its fair share of issues (netcode chief among them), but has been well supported since its initial release in 2016 to become a staple of the FGC.

Ono's run hasn't been perfect. Again, Street Fighter V has its problems -- Ono's statement started with acknowledging the criticisms that came with taking the Capcom Pro Tour online due to the coronavirus pandemic -- and there have been a few notable titles that, for a variety of reasons, completely missed the mark (like Street Fighter X Tekken and Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite). Then, of course, there's the infamous Deep Down saga.

Still, Ono made a remarkable impact, playing a big part in the FGC's continuing growth.

"Capcom staff in the new generation will continue taking care of the Street Fighter brand and leading the World Warriors," Ono wrote. "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 this time around."

With the current generation winding down, Capcom is extending support for Street Fighter V with a fifth season that will add Dan, Rose, Oro, Akira (of Rival Schools fame), and an unannounced character to the roster over the course of the next year.

The outline for the new season ran parallel with a rumor of internal conflict between Ono and Capcom on the direction of Street Fighter VI, which hasn't been officially announced yet.