The man responsible for the creation of BlazBlue, Toshimichi Mori, has announced his departure from Arc System Works after 19 years, leaving some curious as to the direction the fighting game franchise might take in the future.

Mori released a statement announcing his departure and thanked the fans for their years of support:

I have something to report to all of the users. I, Toshimichi Mori, have left Arc System works, the company I worked at for many years.

I first joined Arc System works after working on Guilty Gear X as an employee of PicPac, and I cherish many of the experiences I have had during my 20 years there, whether it was working for various fighting game titles, developing my own title BlazBlue, or connecting with many of our users.

I have nothing but gratitude towards the staff of Arc System Works and others who have worked with me, as well as all the users who supported us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I will depart from Arc System Works. This may cause some feelings of anxiety, especially among fans of the BlazBlue series. For this, I sincerely apologize.

At the moment I’m thinking of creating and delivering a game for the users in some way, and am going to focus my strength on that endeavor. Your support would be much appreciated.

—Toshimichi Mori

Some might be wondering what Mori’s reason was for leaving Arc System Works.