Hideaki Itsuno announces departure from Capcom after 30 years

2024 has been a year of tumultuous changes in the video game industry, this includes studio closures, layoffs, and more. Now news has broken that the iconic Hideaki Itsuno is leaving Capcom after over 30 years at the company.

Legendary Capcom director, Hideaki Itsuno, has announced via X that he will be leaving the Japanese studio to ‘develop a new game in a new environment’. The announcement came from Itsuno’s X account today where he detailed that he will no longer be a part of Capcom as of September.

Itsuno has helped create a number of Capcom games but is perhaps best known for his work on the Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma series. Starting out in 1994, he developed long-forgotten fighting games, his big break came when he was asked to ‘re-organize’ the development of Devil May Cry 2. From there he helmed director duties for the rest of the series up until Devil May Cry 5 in 2019.

Only time will tell what his next game will be, but his long-time fans are sure to rally behind it when the time comes.

Sam Flanagan Video Production Manager

Sam has been an avid gamer ever since he first held a PS1 controller. Over the years he has gained a lot of knowledge about the games industry, development, and publishing, but has always had an interest in game journalism and video editing. He's hoping to expand his writing and editing knowledge by contributing reviews, articles, and videos to Smash Jump.