Kazuma Kaneko, whose career as a character designer at legendary JRPG studio Atlus has spanned almost four decades, has officially left the company. Kaneko has joined COLOPL, a developer and publisher headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, where he will work on a new IP.
News comes to us through a creator interview with Kaneko himself (thanks, Gematsu). Here, it was revealed that this mysterious new game would depict a worldview created by the artist and that the "game experience" would incorporate the latest technology.
Kaneko, who is often referred to as the series' "demon artist" (thanks, PSU), has also done freelance work for other Japanese developers like Capcom and Konami, having worked on games like Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars. His most recent works include Persona 3 Reload, Soul Hackers 2, and Shin Megami Tensei V; his contributions will undoubtedly be sorely missed.
What do you think of Kaneko's departure? Are you excited by the prospect of the new IP the artist is working on? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 7
"new game would depict a worldview created by the artist and that the "game experience" would incorporate the latest technology"
I read this as they left when Altus decided that the game will use AI generated art.
Mara will always be the greatest monster ever created for a game
@Burntbreadman oh god that would be such an Atlus thing to do.
@Burntbreadman That does sound like Atlus the king of cutting corners and I also read it like that.
@Burntbreadman That seems a really weird way to parse it since that expression, at least in the translation by Gematsu and its paraphrase above, seems to be pretty clearly referring to what Kaneko is working on after leaving Atlus.
I'm gonna assume he's like 60 y not retire
Sounds more like he got a director/producer gig at a new studio. Sad to see him leave Atlus games, but that sounds like a great chance if that's what it is. He was probably never going to be a "show runner" at Atlus unless someone else left.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...