Persona series director teases multiple titles in development

Persona 3 and Persona 4 director Katsura Hashino has said Atlus is still working on a number of unannounced titles, one of which is believed to be Persona 5.

"All the unannounced titles we are working on are under zealous development," Hashino said in a Japanese-language blog post on the Atlus website, as translated by DualShockers.

"The challenge, for the time being, is how good they will be. We have spent days full of problems and worries, but we work strenuously so that it doesn’t break our focus."

The post was prompted by fears that Shin Megami Tensei franchise developer Atlus - and its US sister company, the publisher of the same name - will be affected by the bankruptcy of its parent company, Index Corporation, which is expected to find a buyer by the end of the month.

"I’m sorry for the concerns caused by the recent circumstances, and I apologize," Hashino said regarding Atlus's radio silence.

"Next year is set to bring many announcements as part of the 25 anniversary of the Atlus brand, but there are a few things I’d like to share before that."

Hashino noted that games "have become very diverse nowadays" but that the Persona development team is up to the challenge.

"As long as we continue to think about you that love our games, about the creativity, the know-how accumulated, the challenges and the expectation of results, I believe that the future of the series will be something great, full of fun and stimulating," he said.

It's been almost exactly a year since we last heard form Hashino, who confirmed that development of Persona 5 was underway. Early pre-production work on Persona 5 began in 2010.

Index Corp registered a Persona 5 domain last month, suggesting a reveal may be imminent, although going by Hashino's comments we may have to wait for Atlus's birthday party to get the goss.

Persona 4 was released in 2008, so it's been a long wait between sequels, but it's worth remembering that the series is just one arm of the tentacular Shin Megami Tensei franchise, which has popped out at least one release per year in the interim, including ports, re-releases and spin-offs like Catherine and Persona 4: Arena.

Thanks, Dragon246.