Veteran Resident Evil Producer Leaves Capcom

By Tanner Dedmon

After spending 27 years at Capcom working on franchises like the Resident Evil games, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi announced this week his departure from the company. He's not leaving the industry, however, and will instead be joining NetEase Games as a producer. In a statement shared via his personal social media accounts, Kobayashi promised to share more details about the transition soon and thanked people for their support as he changes positions.

The message shared on Twitter this week came on Kobayashi's birthday and confirmed that he'd actually departed Capcom back at the end of March. He did not mention in this statement what sorts of projects he may be working on next at NetEase.

"After serving 27 years with gratitude, I have departed from Capcom on March 31, 2022, and will officially be joining NetEase Games as a producer," Kobayashi said. "I will strive to continuously create more enjoyable entertainment experiences for everyone at this new company, in this new era. Thank you for the continued support."

Throughout his tenure at Capcom, Kobayashi worked on a number of different recognizable series and games in various positions. He was a programmer on the first two Resident Evil games ever made and served as a planner and producer, respectively, on Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2. He served as a producer on a number of games afterwards including Dino Crisis 3, Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry 4, Dragon's Dogma, and a number of Sengoku Basara games. Outside of games, Kobayashi fulfilled various producing and planning roles in anime adaptations of some of Capcom's properties such as Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness and Dragon's Dogma.

NetEase, the company Kobayashi is heading to next, is a creator that's recognizable by its games even if the name alone might not ring a bell. NetEase is known for its mobile titles such as Knives Out, Marvel Super War, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, and the mobile version of Dead by Daylight.

Those fond of Kobayashi's works can stay attuned to his social media posts to see what he ends up working on next.

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