Atlus Brand Manager Discusses All Things Persona In Recent Interview

During an interview at Taipei Game Show 2019, Atlus brand manager Naoto Hiraoka spoke to Taiwanese website GNN Gamer discussing the company’s current and future games, ranging from the ever-popular Persona to the mysterious Project Re Fantasy.

The newly published interview goes over a myriad of topics related to Persona, such as why Joker is in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the challenges of making anything after Persona 5, as well as topics related to other IPs, such as the potential for Catherine becoming a series and why Shin Megami Tensei V is taking so long.

Here are the important details (as translated by Persona Central):

Persona

• Persona 5 sales have topped 2.4 million copies worldwide
• Future challenges: “Because Persona 5 is a game which has achieved greatly, our biggest challenge now is to release a game which goes beyond the height of Persona 5, including the just mentioned Project Re Fantasy, as well as some new projects which have not yet been announced. I hope that we can strive for excellence and to achieve results beyond Persona 5.”
• Potential Persona 3 and Persona 4 remasters: “Although we can’t specifically tell you anything at the moment, we have always received a lot of suggestions from the players. We have received and understood the voices of the players, and if there is an opportunity, we will actively discuss it.”
• Joker in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: “Joker will participate in Super Smash Bros. mainly because of the invitation from Sora Ltd.’s Masahiro Sakurai. That is what led to this collaboration. Because Mr. Sakurai likes Persona 5 very much, and I personally like Super Smash Bros. a lot, my first thought when I received the invitation was ‘Great!’ I was very happy to establish a relationship for this collaboration.”
• Whether Joker’s presence in Smash means P5 will appear on the Switch: “We don’t have a specific answer to give for that question, but I personally think that the Nintendo Switch is a very attractive platform.”

Other IPs

• Studio Zero’s Project Re Fantasy is “going smoothly.”
• Potential of Catherine becoming a series: “We need to observe players’ reactions before thinking about the next step.”
• “Shin Megami Tensei V is still under development. However, because this is Atlus’ first time tackling Nintendo Switch game development, there are many things to consider. How to present the game is our future challenge, so please wait patiently for follow-up news.”

Miscellaneous

• Atlus currently has no plans to work closely with Sega’s properties in the future. That said, it does communicate with one another, allowing for content such as Yakuza and Sonic costumes in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight to come about.
• In the future, Atlus is targeting simultaneous releases for Japan and the Asian market.