The creator of the BlazBlue fighting game franchise, Toshimichi Mori, announces he has left Arc System Works after nearly two decades at the developer. The first game in the series, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger, was first developed and published by Arc System Works in 2008. It is a traditional 2D fighting game that utilized sprites, borrowing elements from its sister series Guilty Gear, which the creator also worked on before BlazBlue. This series became one of the fighting game franchises that represented Arc System Works, thanks to its expressive anime art style, mechanics, character designs, and music.
The series had published four mainline entries in the series, with a massive and sprawling narrative that is also explored in spin-offs and other media. The last mainline entry was BlazBlue: Central Fiction in 2015, with the last console spin-off game being BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. The latter was a crossover that combined the casts of BlazBlue, Persona, Under Night In-Birth, RWBY, and many more in a 2D team-based fighter. After such a long time with Arc System Works, Mori has left the legendary fighting game developer.
This announcement was posted via a tweet on Mori's account, where he thanked the many fans and staff members who supported him. He detailed that his start in the industry was with Guilty Gear X, the second game in the series, and would go on to work on other fighting games before getting the chance to make his own franchise. He states that he was grateful for the opportunity to work with the company, along with the many fans who played the series.
He notes that with his departure from Arc System Works, this may cause some anxiety to rise within the fan base. He points out that this may be felt most with the fans of the BlazBlue series the most, due to his high position and the most recent game concluding a long-running narrative saga. He apologizes to the fans, understanding that this leaves the fate of the series currently in the air, especially since the last mainline game was almost seven years ago. Despite this, fans thanked him for all his hard work on the series.
The last piece of media that involved BlazBlue was a mobile game known as BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War, which almost lasted an entire year before ceasing services. Meanwhile, Arc System Works has been continuing to support a number of other fighting games, such as Dragon Ball FighterZ, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, DNF Duel and Guilty Gear Strive. Strive in particular has been quite popular, selling over a million copies and continuing to get support through its second season after being a relatively niche fighting game series for so long.
Source: Gematsu