Ryota Niitsuma, the producer on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, is leaving Capcom’s employ, he announced via Twitter today.
Niitsuma’s message to his fans was as follows:
I have a notice！Hello, to all the fans out there.I wanted to let you know I will be leaving Capcom.I was able to accomplish many things thanks to your love and support.Words themselves don’t seem to be enough for this situation, but allow me to say “Thank you!” to all of you.Fighting games will always be important to Capcom, and it’s thanks to all of you that Capcom can make them. Your support is greatly appreciated!Thank you everyone! It’s been great taking a ride with you!P.S. While no longer at Capcom, I’ll still continue in my role as a producer in the games industry. I’m sure our paths with cross again!
Niitsuma’s last fighting game project at Capcom was Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The next game in the series, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was produced by Tsukasa Takenaka and Mike Evans.
In October 2019, Niitsuma confirmed via Twitter that he was no longer working on fighting games at Capcom. Following his work on Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he was part of Capcom’s “Dev 1” division, which is responsible for the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry series of games, among others.
Niitsuma is the second notable designer of fighting games to have left Capcom in recent years. In 2016, Hidetoshi Ishizawa (AKA “Neo_G”), who served as Battle System Designer on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Planning Director on Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, announced that he was leaving the company to work at SNK. At SNK, Ishizawa served as Concept & Battle Designer on 2019’s Samurai Shodown and Game Designer on SNK Heroines, before leaving that company as well.
