Yoshinori Ono has just publicly revealed his resignation from Capcom Vancouver. He thanks the staff of the studio, and particularly the Dead Rising 3 team.
I resigned from the director position about CAPCOM Vancouver. Thanks good staff of CAPCOM Vancouver, and Dead Rising staff!
— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) June 16, 2014
Ono is most known for his connection to the Street Fighter franchise, but was never tied down exclusively to that series. Most recently, it was known that he was busy working on Deep Down, with the help of Sony Computer Entertainment.
It wasn’t fully clear what Ono’s role was for Vancouver, but this tweet makes it clear that he had some input in the production of Dead Rising 3, and may have been working with them with other unannounced ongoing projects.
A quick look at his LinkedIn indicates he is no longer at Capcom Vancouver, but still holds three positions in Capcom. He is an Officer of Capcom USA, Head of Consumer Games Development Division 2, and Corporate Officer. It seems possible that these three positions do not necessarily give him work to do on a daily basis, but do give him some power he needs to make decisions for Capcom games.
I had take some time, I think over very carefully about next things. I'd like to watch TV for Brazil World Cup before thinking it! 😀
— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) June 16, 2014
Ono’s tweets indicate he is taking a hiatus from work, watching the ongoing World Cup in Brazil. It does appear that Ono isn’t leaving Capcom itself, but just doesn’t want to keep this specific job position. It’s also entirely possible Capcom knew about this resignation coming up internally, and Ono simply decided to make it public today.
In any case, we hope Ono enjoys his well-deserved break from game development, and can come back soon with new game ideas to thrill us. Of course, we hope his promise of a new Darkstalkers hasn’t been forgotten either.