Hideaki Itsuno, director of numerous titles like the Devil May Cry series and Dragon’s Dogma, is leaving Capcom after 30 years at the developer.
Dragon’s Dogma 2, the long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s Dragon’s Dogma, only just launched in March of this year, but five months on Itsuno has announced that come the end of this month, he’ll no longer be at Capcom. “I have an announcement for all my followers,” Itsuno wrote on his personal Twitter account. “At the end of August 2024, I will be leaving Capcom after 30 years and 5 months. Thank you for your long-term support of the games and characters I have been responsible for. I hope you will continue to support Capcom’s games and characters.”
That’ll obviously be a bit sad for anyone who’s a fan of Itsuno’s works at Capcom, but it’s not all bad news, as the developer continued: “From September, I will start developing a new game in a new environment. I hope to create fun, beautiful games that are as memorable as, or even more memorable than, the ones I have created so far. Please stay tuned for my next creation!” Considering Itsuno says he’ll be starting in September, it’ll likely be a while until we see what that is, so don’t get too excited just yet.
While Itsuno started out at Capcom directing and co-directing fighting games like Rival Schools: United by Fate and Power Stone, he took over as director on Devil May Cry 2, going on to direct every other major entry in the series bar the reboot game. Of course, he also directed Dragon’s Dogma, doing the same for this year’s sequel, a game so good our own Alex called it one of the greatest games of all time in his review, as long as you’ve got the right constitution, that is.
