Delightworks, the developer behind the massively popular Japanese mobile game Fate/Grand Order, has named former Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono to the position of president and chief operating officer.
Ono will take over for the company’s current president and representative director Akihito Shoji on May 1, with the former head moving into the role of chairman and chief executive officer.
This announcement was made on Delightworks company website. He is joining a successful development team that is looking to continue creating new games and was brought in to “manage the company from a more multifaceted perspective.”
Prior to this, Ono spent 27 years at Capcom, joining the company in 1993 as a sound programmer on Saturday Night Slam Masters before going on to work on the Street Fighter series in various capacities, starting with Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1997. He left the company on Aug. 9 amidst a change in direction within Capcom’s fighting game division.
Ono has yet to personally announce his new position, though he did confirm that he visited Capcom headquarters to talk with his former colleagues and the company owner, presumably Kenzo Tsujimoto, about his job.
Delightworks will continue work on Fate/Grand Order and is set to publish Melty Blood – Type Lumina, a recently announced fighting game.
Update April 27 2:40am CT: Ono has confirmed his new position at Delightworks.
“Dear FGC, World Warriors, on May 1st, I will be moving from Capcom to another company,” Ono said. “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.”
He also notes that there will be some distance between his current work and the fighting game community, but he is looking forward to the new experience and an eventual FGC reunion.
