Since the release ofPersona 5, beloved Japanese developer Atlus has undergone several major changes that have heavily affected the trajectory of the series going forward. One of the biggest internal changes comes from many of the key developers of thePersonafranchise moving on to other projects or outright leaving the company, such as how many of thePersona 5team are currently working onProject Re Fantasy. Today, longtimePersonaandShin Megami Tenseiseries composer Shoji Meguro has announced that he has left Atlus to work on an independent sci-fi JRPG.
Shoji Meguro joined Atlus in 1995 and got his start at the company as a composer forRevelations: Persona, the very first installment in the now belovedPersonafranchise, alongside three other artists. While Meguro wouldnot return forPersona 2: Innocent SinandPersona 2: Eternal Punishment, his track “Aria of the Soul” would become a series staple, now iconic as the music that accompanies the Velvet Room in almost everyPersonagame. Instead, Meguro was contributing to titles such asShin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne,Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, andTrauma Center: Under the Knife.
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In 2006, Meguro returned to thePersonaseries with the soundtrack forPersona 3, which would go on to become a major success notably due to its J-pop inspired music. The soundtrack forPersona 3alone sold over 100,000 copies in Japan. During his work on the music forPersona 4andPersona 5, Meguro would win numerous awards and perform the games' music at many stadium shows in Japan. Shoji Meguro even went on to direct the remakes ofShin Megami Tensei: Personaand thePersona 2games for the PSP, making his debut as a video game director.
It’s likely due to this that Meguro announced today that he departed Atlus in late September to finish work on a science-fiction JRPG that he has been developing on his own on Unreal Engine 4 for the past five years. The game is currently known as “Megarock” and will be showcased at the upcoming INDIE Live Winter 2021 showcase on November 5th. An important thing to mention is that Meguro has confirmed thathe will still contribute to Atlus projects as a freelance video game composer.
While Meguro has already contributed to in-development projects likeProject Re Fantasy, which is being headed by most of the team behindPersona 5including game director Katsura Hashino (leading a new internal team known as Studio Zero), it seems increasingly likely that the nextPersonagame will be a new beginning for the series. Given that a lot of the series' veterans have moved on, having worked onPersona 3,Persona 4, andPersona 5, it’s likely thatAtlus is planning to givePersona 6to a new internal teamwhich could be what the series needs to breathe new life into it heading into a new generation.
