Metaphor: ReFantazio, Persona Director Katsura Hashino is already working on a new JRPG

Katsura Hashino, who we consider to be one of the greats after directing “Catherine,” “Persona 3,” “Persona 4,” “Persona 5,” and now “Metaphor: ReFantazio,” is already back at work. Interestingly, even though details about Studio Zero’s next game are extremely sparse, we know it won’t be another Persona; It remains to be seen what direction Hashino ultimately takes.

As GamesRadar+ shared, the studio head recently spoke to Famitsu alongside Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama and was asked what he wanted to work on next, to which he replied, “Oh, I’ve already started.” Hashino explains that it’s less about that , “what one should do as an individual”; Instead, he needs to look at the company as a whole and the player: “I look at Atlus as a whole and think about what our team can do best right now. Firstly, I want the users to be happy, and as a result I hope the company is happy too. That’s how I always work.”

Atlus operates in a somewhat labyrinthine studio structure and, like Square Enix, has a feel for department-specific naming conventions. Following the release of the landmark Persona 5, Hashino stepped down from his role in the creative department 2nd Production, better known as P-Studio, which is now headed by Kazuhisa Wada.

The creative division 3rd Production, or Studio Zero, is Hashino’s personal fiefdom, and with Metaphor out in the wild, he is free to continue his mission of creating new intellectual property unrelated to Persona. Creative Department 1. Production, Team Maniax, in case you haven’t guessed, is the shepherd of the Shin Megami Tensei series, overseeing the Nintendo-exclusive series Trauma Center and Etrian Odyssey.