Nintendo has just released a statement saying that Charles Martinet will no longer voice the iconic Italian plumber.

Nintendo will instead move Mr. Martinet into an ambassador role, where he will step away from voice-acting in any future Super Mario games.

Here’s the announcement from Nintendo:

Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64. Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!

It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.

It’s a sad moment for fans of the franchise, as they still expected Mr. Martinet to voice Mario in Nintendo’s upcoming games.

At the moment, it is unknown who will voice Mario in Nintendo’s next entries for the series.