Toshimichi Mori Departs Arc System Works After 20 Years

Toshimichi Mori, an illustrator working for Arc System Works, a Japanese studio, has announced he is leaving the studio. Arc System Works, also known as ArcSys, is known for making fighting game series like Double Dragon, Guilty Gear, and BlazBlue. They also developed a detective adventure game, Jake Hunter.

Toshimichi Mori joined Arc System works in 2003. His first work was in the Guilty Gear X, in which he made several fictional characters for the game.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

• Toshimichi Mori is leaving Arc System Works, a Japanese game developer, after working there for 20 years.
• He is the creator of the famous fighting game series BlazBlue.
• He said he is going to continue making games but did reveal where he is headed to.

His work was appreciated by the studio and he wanted to challenge himself. So he started work on a new fighting game. After a few years of work, he convinced the studio to approve his game, which later came to be known as BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. Toshimichi Mori was the director, producer, and main illustrator of the game. The game was released in 2008.

The game’s immediate success prompted Arc System Works to turn it into a game series. This was to become Toshimichi Mori’s path to fame.

The series had enormous success and was able to develop a huge fanbase among fighting game enthusiasts. The studio went on to develop 4 games in the main series and 7 spin-offs. Toshimochi Mori came to be known as the best fighting game creator and illustrator, thanks to BlazBlue’s success.

Lately, rumors of Toshimichi Mori’s potential departure from Arc System Works were in circulation on the internet. Now, Toshimichi Mori has tweeted a statement on his Twitter account that effectively confirms these rumors.

ご報告です。 pic.twitter.com/wACWEOfxVh

— 森P (@zatuyoP) September 25, 2022

In his statement he said,

I have an announcement to make to our users. I, Toshimichi Mori, have left Arc System Works after many years of service.

I joined Arc System Works because I was involved in the development of Guilty Gear X at a company called PickBack, and after developing many fighting games, I was able to develop BlazBlue, my masterpiece, and I have had the opportunity to have relationships with many users.

The many experiences have had over the past 20 years since joining Arc System Works are the treasures of my life.

He further said he was grateful to Arc System Works for the support they gave him all these years. Referring to BlazBlue fans, he said he was “sorry for the anxiety this may cause to BlazBlue users in particular.”

He did not specify where he will be headed next but he ascertained his intention to keep making games. 

I hope to be able to deliver games to users in some form in the future, and I will do my best to achieve this goal, so ask for your continued support.

This is no doubt a big loss for the BlazBlue franchise and Arc System Works. 

Which studio do you think will he join? Tell us in the comments below.