Yoshinori Ono No Longer Heading Up Capcom's Fighting Division

It looks like Capcom is making a change in its fighting game department, though it's too soon to tell just how effective it will be.

Based on this report from EventHubs, the company made some changes with fighting games, moving former producer Yoshinori Ono (of Street Fighter fame) to a lower position, while Ryozo Tsujimoto, producer of the Monster Hunter franchise, has taken his position.

According to the report, Ono will still have heavy involvement with fighting games, but it indicates that a change was needed based on the lost momentum of the company's previous fighting game releases.

In this particular chase, Street Fighter V and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. When Street Fighter came out a while ago, it barely sold 1.4 million copies due to its lack of features being available at launch. It did eventually pick back up in momentum once the Arcade Edition rolled around, but Capcom couldn't help but note its problems.

And Infinite just didn't sell as well as expected. It did face a myriad of problems in the midst of its development, but it's unknown just who's to blame in regards to its failure.

As for why Tsujimoto was chosen for the new position, the success of Monster Hunter: World no doubt has something to do with it. The game has become a huge seller for Capcom over the past few months, selling over eight million copies and putting it back on the path to success.

It's unknown what this means for Capcom's future fighting games, but there has been some notable success with the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Edition that came out this past June, selling millions of copies in its own right and becoming a nostalgic treat for fans. Part of that credit goes to Ono, confirming that he's still very important on the fighting team.

There was talk of some time about Darkstalkers making a comeback with Ono at the helm, but this move could put that revival in jeopardy -- at least, for the time being. Capcom is seeing how the next few months fare with such major releases as Mega Man 11, Devil May Cry 5 and Resident Evil 2 Remake before it announces anything new for 2019. We'll just have to wait and see what it has in mind.

(Hat tip to EventHubs for the scoop!)