Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, the producer of the Mega Man series and, more recently, Street Fighter 6, has left Capcom. The news comes to us through Tsuchiya's Twitter profile, which he recently updated to indicate he has moved on from the company.
Tsuchiya emerged as a key figure during an uncertain period following Keiji Inafune's departure in 2010. Under his tutelage, the Mega Man franchise experienced significant growth, achieving a total sales figure of 38 million units, an impressive increase of 7 million units compared to the stagnant period before Mega Man 11. Tsuchiya played a pivotal role in the development of Mega Man 11, Mega Man X DiVE, every individual Legacy Collection, and contributed to the franchise's most remarkable accomplishment yet: Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection's shipment of over one million units within two weeks of its launch.
In late 2018, Tsuchiya announced his intention to start working on a new title, with pre-production set for the following year. These plans were formalized by September 2019. Although the project has yet to materialize, all indications point to it being the enigmatic "Taisen" project, which was first mentioned in leaked materials followed by a registry in the Nvidia GeForce database. The title was originally expected to be released in late 2022.
Given the impact of the pandemic on Capcom's production pipeline at the time and subsequent reshuffling release dates for key titles - not to mention management pulling Tsuchiya onto Street Fighter 6 -- we eagerly await the result of his labor. The sudden reemergence of a 35th anniversary push has no doubt left fans hopeful.
Although we may not currently have a tangible representation of Taisen or any other "major" titles, Tsuchiya has undoubtedly left Mega Man in a significantly improved state than where he found it. I'm very grateful for that.
More news on this topic as it happens.
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