Capcom’s Christian Svensson has resigned from the company following a number of layoffs within the publisher’s U.S. branch.
Svensson’s departure will no doubt come as a blow to fans given his reputation for interacting with gamers on the Capcom-Unity. In addition, he was responsible for securing the western release of Capcom’s more obscure titles as well as PC ports of its most popular IP.
Regarding the layoffs, Capcom blamed the decision on the transition to new hardware.
"Capcom today laid off several employees from the US office as part of an overall organizational restructure of the company. The transition to the new generation of hardware and changing industry landscape have required us to adapt our business to best meet our new goals,” said the company.
"We sincerely thank each individual for their contributions and wish them well."
Svensson issued his own statement, making it clear he had been toying with the idea of leaving for some time now.
"This departure is not a bad thing for me and it’s happening mostly because I’d suggested it during the early planning for today’s reorg,” he said on Facebook (via IGN).
"While I wish the company the best of luck, Capcom is going in a different direction and the need for people at my level, relative to other areas, is lacking. Those who know me well, know that I’ve been ready to go for quite some time.
"That said, I’m grateful for the opportunities Capcom has afforded me. I stayed as long as I did in large part for the potential I felt the company had (and still may have). But I also stayed for the people. I’ve worked alongside extremely talented and passionate folks in nearly every office we have. There are far too many to name but I really want to thank them all for the time we spent in the trenches together. I have truly enjoyed working with each and every one of you and would jump at the chance to do so again in the future."
Capcom has a number of high-profile titles due for release this year, including Lost Planet 3, DuckTales Remastered, Dead Rising 3 and Monster Hunter 4. It also teased a potential PlayStation 4 project named Deep Down during the console’s reveal event in New York City back in February.
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