Itsuno (Creator of Dragon's Dogma, Devil May Cry) has left Capcom

[John Elden Ring]

 

[Yurinka]

So sad, but at least he will continue making games. Let's hope it's with SNK, ARC System Works or Sony.

Some people may only know it for Dragon's Dogma 2 or the recent Devil May Cry games, but this guy is a Capcom legend:

• He was a designer on Street Fighter Alpha, the one who moved the series out of Street Fighter 2 tweaked updates adding multiple innovations to the genre
• He was a designer on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the best game adaptation of the series
• He also directed the first Capcom fighting game with 3D visuals (Star Gladiator) and the first one with 3D gameplay (Power Stone)
• He directed hidden gems like One Piece Mansion (PS1) and a cel shaded racing game (Auto Modellista, PS2)
• He brought online to the Darkstalkers series with the best adaptation back then: Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service (which later was brought to the west replacing the online with the Chaos Tower mode in a PSP port)
• He directed the Rival Schools, Power Stone and Capcom vs SNK series
• He replaced the Devil May Cry 2 director a few months before releasing the game and directed DMC 3, 4 and 5
• He also directed the Dragon's Dogma series

 

[Entropi]

I thank him for all the incredible experiences throughout the decades

 

[voke]

Legend. Honestly this is a tragedy for me,DD2 is my GOTY and DMCV is one of my most played single player games of all time. This man knows how to make an action combat system like no other.

Wishing him the best of luck

 

[RE4-Station]

This guy was at Capcom longer than I have been alive? I was born about 2 months after he got hired from what I can tell from his wikipedia page. I wonder if this has something to do with Dragon's Dogma 2's sales performance?

 

[Evilnemesis8]

This guy was at Capcom longer than I have been alive? I was born about 2 months after he got hired from what I can tell from his wikipedia page. I wonder if this has something to do with Dragon's Dogma 2's sales performance?

Not a chance. The most likely explanation is that he probably didn't feel like he could to the sort of project(s) he's been probably wanting to do for quite some time. The man has been mostly working as a Director on two franchises in the last 19 years.

Also... RIP his CVS3 dream

So sad, but at least he will continue making games. Let's hope it's with SNK, ARC System Works or Sony.

The recently announced fighting collection 2 is pretty much an Itsuno collection.

 

[Danja]

Can Sony try to lock him down and put him in charge of the God of War department at Sony Santa Monica, please

 

[Yurinka]

The recently announced fighting collection 2 is pretty much an Itsuno collection.

Yes. I assume Dragon's Dogma 2 sales and this collection are somewhat related to his departure but I wonder how.

Maybe they know he was leaving and made the tribution as a tribute, maybe he was pushing so hard to get brand new Rival Schools, Power Stone (there was an internally planned Power Stone remake, I'd bet it wasn't this) or Capcom vs SNK games or at least remakes and all he could achieve was this and got frustrated.

Maybe he's tired of DMC and Dragon's Dogma, and Dragon's Dogma 2 didn't perform as well as Capcom wanted, or had some fight with some higher up with something related to it. And wants to move on to do something else.

I'd like to see him, Mikami and Kamiya together in the same company again (Mikami as head of studio with Kamiya and Itsuno directing their own games), maybe a new Sony studio.

Or if not I'd like him to join SNK or ARC System Works to go back to direct fighting games.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Maybe he's tired of DMC and Dragon's Dogma, and Dragon's Dogma 2 didn't perform as well as Capcom wanted, or had some fight with some higher up with something related to it. And wants to move on to do something else.

Def my pick
It's not like there isn't history backing this one hypothesis. How many long time directors at his age have left Capcom/Square-Enix and a bunch of other bigger Japanese studios to pursue other opportunities when it becomes obvious they couldn't do those dream projects they had in mind?

There's been plenty. But also, many of those never ended being made anyway because they join or form small studios and they don't have the resources to make those dream games. A lot of those Directors/Producers never achieve the highs of their past because they don't have the same amount of talent they had back at the big studios.

Or if not I'd like him to join SNK or ARC System Works to go back to direct fighting games.

Problem with that is that there's a bunch of Directors firmly established there, and those studios probably can't accommodate the kind of talent growth to give him the resources to helm a project of size in a timely manner.

I mean, technically speaking SnK has Saudi Royal money, so anything goes. But you've still got to convince the oil suits.
At the same time, there's a clear talent shortage in Japan and have been for a while.


But yeah, I'm also very curious to see where he goes next.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Can Sony try to lock him down and put him in charge of the God of War department at Sony Santa Monica, please

After 30 years, the guy is around retirement. He definitely left Capcom so he can stay longer with family while working on much smaller and less stressful projects.

 

[BroodCorp]

Both series have peaked and he left on a high point.

 

[Ico]

the end of an era huh? what a legend, im curious to see what the next gen of devs he worked with will cook with dmc6