Gematsu is reporting this week that the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu contains New Year’s cards listing the projects and aspirations of 54 different video game developers as we move into 2020. Among the developers participating in Issue #1622’s New Year’s cards is Atlus, who writes: “Both Shin Megami Tensei V and Project Re Fantasy are under active development.”
The latest entry in the cult classic Shin Megami Tensei series (part of the larger Shin Megami franchise, which include the Persona series of JRPGs and spinoffs) was originally announced as Nintendo Switch exclusive at the beginning of 2017 and a stream in October of that year shed a little more light on the project. Shin Megami Tensei producer Kazuyuki Yamai stated that the team wanted more time to work on the game using the Unreal 4 development engine and make sure that the final product met their meticulous standards, and the original release window of 2018 came and went. Since then Atlus has kept new information and updates on the development of the game to themselves.
The note in Weekly Famitsu in advance of the 2020 New Year is great news to fans of the Shin Megami Tensei series that this fifth game is in fact still being actively developed. It’s also a strong indicator that Yamai and the team at Atlus will have more to share on Shin Megami Tensei V soon.
The note also mentions the new fantasy IP Project Re Fantasy: A Fool’s Journey Begins being in active development at Atlus under their new development team Studio Zero, which is led by several Persona series veterans. Project Re Fantasy was originally announced at the end of 2016, and most recently the game’s director Katsura Hoshino told Game Informer in the November issue (via Persona Central) of this year that Project Re Fantasy had arrived on a clear direction and would be ready to reveal more information about this new fantasy experience soon.
Last year for their 2019 New Year’s card Atlus shared that the company was working on sharing more news on two unannounced titles in the year ahead. Those games turned out to be Persona 5 Royal, an upgraded version of the hit JRPG Persona 5 that adds additional content and some quality of life adjustments, and Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, musou-style spinoff title that maintains the style and integrity of the visually striking Persona series.