Shoji Meguro, the Japanese composer best known for his work on the Persona series, has resigned from his position after a 25-year tenure at Atlas. He now plans to develop his own indie games.
“I know this is quite sudden, but I, Shoji Meguro, resigned from Atlus Co., Ltd. at the end of September 2021,” announced Meguro in a short statement posted to his Twitter account. According to the composer, the decision to leave the company has come so that he can focus on his dream of developing indie games.
インディーゲーム作家に俺はなる！
ということで（株）アトラスを退社してインディーゲーム作家の道に進むことになりました！
とは言え（株）アトラスとは今後も良好な関係を続けていきます。
今後とも目黒将司とともにアトラスサウンドチームにもご期待ください。
詳しくはhttps://t.co/0RpRn3n5Td pic.twitter.com/iaiPEQSMIp— 目黒将司(Shoji Meguro)@MegaRock (@s_megarock) October 27, 2021
“I’ve been creating role-playing games by myself during my spare time for the past five years now,” said Meguro elsewhere in the statement. “I applied for a Round 1 Kodansha Game Creators Lab recruitment and was selected as one of the finalists. Then staff from Kodansha was assigned to work with me.”
Despite leaving the company last month, Meguro says that he has maintained a “good” relationship with Atlus. With that in mind, the composer eased fans’ concerns in regards to the future of music in Atlas-made games. “I will continue to work with Atlus on game music,” Meguro said. “So I hope that those of you who were concerned about the sudden announcement will feel relieved.”
Meguro joined Atlus in 1995, helping to craft the soundtrack to the company’s 1996 release of Revelations: Persona. Since then, the composer has worked alongside a wealth of other composers to create music for the company. While his work on subsequent entries into the Persona series is likely his most recognized, particularly in the west, Meguro is also known for his work on the Shin Megami Tensei franchise.
In a separate tweet published to Twitter, Meguro delved a little further into the game that he’s currently been developing. As per the screenshots below, the game appears to include stealth mechanics and a sci-fi theme. Meguro has said that fans will be able to see more from the game on November 6 when it will be officially revealed at the Indie Live Expo.
11/6（土）16時からのインディーライブエキスポ（https://t.co/VkRESGcQB9）にて開発中のゲームの紹介をしていただけることになりました。（楽曲も提供しました！）
はじめの方で紹介していただけるようなので、ぜひ！アタマっから見てみてください！ pic.twitter.com/TIjI9657g2— 目黒将司(Shoji Meguro)@MegaRock (@s_megarock) October 27, 2021
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.