Persona series composer Shoji Meguro is leaving Atlus, looking to become an indie developer. Meguro still plans to work with Atlus in a freelance capacity for future projects.
Shoji Meguro is one of the biggest mainstays of the Persona series, having been with Atlus for 25 years. In his announcement, Meguro is looking to set up a small indie dev under the Kodansha Game Creators Lab. The composer resigned this September from the company.
Meguro moves towards indie development
Meguro has been a staple of the Persona series, as well as the Shin Megami Tensei series since their inception. As its leading composer, he is known for his great compositions. Now, Meguro is ready for the transition, with a portfolio of indie titles under his belt in his pseudonym, Megarock.
“I know this is quite sudden but I, Shoji Meguro, resigned from Atlus Co Ltd. at the end of September 2021,” said Meguro in his announcement video. “I’ve been developing games during my spare time for about five years now and I am now able to focus only on that which is something that I’ve always dreamed of.
“Atlus Co Ltd. accepted my dream, or rather my selfishness. We have agreed to continue to develop games and create music together. There will be more games and music in the future, so stay tuned.”
Atlus also announced the same in a statement.
“As of the end of September 2021, we are pleased to announce that sound composer Shoji Meguro has left Atlas Co., Ltd. and has become independent as a freelancer,” said the statement.
“We are continuing to develop new titles with Mr. Meguro after independence. We will support Mr. Meguro’s new challenge to expand his field of activity in the future. We would like to ask all of our users and all concerned for their continued support and patronage.”
Meguro leaves during Persona’s 25th anniversary
With the exit of Shoji Meguro, the exodus of long-term Japanese talent for the year. Over the past month, some long-term Sega creators have exited the company as well.
プライマリ⇔セカンダリのウェポンチェンジ実装したー。 pic.twitter.com/Ot9vNnYv8H
— 目黒将司(Shoji Meguro)@MegaRock (@s_megarock) August 17, 2021
Meguro noted that his current project will get an announcement at the upcoming Indie Live Expo on November 6 this year. One of the projects Meguro showed off in August includes a sci-fi 3rd-person shooter.
The exodus of Meguro comes during the 25th year of the Persona franchise, with Atlus ready for more festivities this year. While Shoji Meguro is moving to other projects, Atlus is looking forward to more announcements for their big franchise.
Featured image courtesy of Kodansha Creators Lab/Youtube Screenshot