Capcom veteran Hiroyuki Kobayashi leaves studio for NetEase

Veteran Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi has announced that he left the company after almost three decades earlier this year to join NetEase.

Kobayashi made the announcement yesterday (August 12)  on their 50th birthday, posting about the move on Twitter. The industry veteran left Capcom back in March, with more to be shared about their role at NetEase soon (via VGC).

“I would like to share something very special with everyone: After serving 27 years with gratitude, I have departed from Capcom on March 31, 2022, and will be officially joining NetEase Games as a producer.

“Detail plans will be shared later so please stay tuned. I will strive to continuously create more enjoyable entertainment experiences for everyone at this new company, in this new era. Thank you for the continued support,” Kobayashi concluded.

Whilst at Capcom, Kobayashi was a programmer on the original Resident Evil and a producer on the game’s 2002 remake, then serving as producer on titles like Devil May Cry 4, Dragon’s Dogma and Resident Evil 4.

Kobayashi has also been a supervisor and producer on a number of Capcom-inspired anime projects, like 2007’s Devil May Cry: The Animated Series and 2021’s Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.

NetEase also acquired No More Heroes developer Grasshopper Manufacture late last year, with Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi setting up Nagoshi Studio as a “wholly owned subsidiary” of NetEase Games in January of this year.

Nagoshi Studio consists of Nagoshi himself and eight other staff members. These include a mix of talent and developers from the Yakuza series, the Judgment games, and Super Monkey Ball series.

In other video game related news, a brand new South Park title has been teased by THQ Nordic and South Park Digital Studios.