2024 was a big year for Atlus; it saw the release of the remake Persona 3 Reload, the expanded Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, and new titles Unicorn Overlord and Metaphor Re:Fantazio. 2025 is shaping up to be just as busy a year, as the studio has already teased that they have multiple major announcements – possibly including the long-awaited Persona 6. However, Atlus is no stranger to busy years, as releasing multiple major titles in a single year has been a common strategy for the studios.
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Multiple-Release Years Are Often Standard For Atlus
Since its inception in 1986, Atlus has often worked at a seemingly breakneck pace to release multiple titles in a single year. Even its first full year of operation, 1987, was such a year, seeing the release of Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei and an NES spinoff of the film The Karate Kid. Since then, Atlus has had several busy years, with these being some of the most prominent and packed with releases:
- 1990: Megami Tensei 2, Battle Fleet, Cosmo Tank, Jantei Monogatari, Pocket Stadium, and Puzzle Boys
- 1994: Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei 2, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible, Shin Megami Tensei if, Jantei Monogatari 3, and both the NES and Sega Genesis versions of Power Instinct
- 2000: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Shin Megami Tensei Aka no Sho and Kuro no Sho, Hamster Paradise 2 and 3, four games in the Pokeler series, and more.
- 2007: Odin Sphere, Persona 3 FES, Growlanser 6, Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, Trauma Center: New Blood, and eight mobile games, including multiple Shin Megami Tensei spinoffs.
- 2012: Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Golden, Etrian Odyssey IV, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, the iOS port of Shin Megami Tensei, and the PlayStation Portable re-release of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Atlus Team Members Have Hinted At A Busy 2025
In a feature published by 4gamer, multiple Atlus team members indicated that they were working on titles they were very excited about, and could not wait to share with the public. One spokesperson in particular, 2nd Creative Department member Kazuhisa Wada, said “2025 is a year where [Atlus will] carefully steer the helm of several large-scale projects” and “the collective mass of these projects is enormous.”
While Wada’s statement does not necessarily mean that all of these “large-scale projects” will be released in 2025, it is highly likely that at least one will. Atlus has consistently released at least one game per year since its founding. Even during the slowdown during and post COVID-19 pandemic, Atlus launched Persona 5 Strikers and the remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne in 2020, Shin Megami Tensei V in 2021, and Soul Hackers 2 in 2022. The busy, release-packed 2024 and presumably equally busy 2025 are not Atlus working at some unheard-of breakneck pace – but rather a return to form after the pandemic-related slowdown.
As for what Atlus will be releasing in 2025, that is currently a mystery. One major possibility is a Western release for Persona 5: The Phantom X, which began its life as a mobile game available only in certain regions. DLC for Metaphor: ReFantazio is also a possibility. Persona 6 or the next main line Shin Megami Tensei title releasing in 2025 seems unlikely, but not impossible – and, at the very least, fans could see an announcement of either game.
Other projects that fans have theorized may be on the horizon for Atlus are re-masters of Persona 1, the Persona 2 duology, and the Raidou Kuzunoha games, as well as a full Persona 3 Reload-style remake of Persona 4. Of course, it’s also very possible that Atlus is planning to launch another new IP, especially with how well Metaphor: ReFantazio was received.
Atlus
- Date Founded
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April 7, 1986
- Headquarters
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Minato City, Tokyo, Japan
- Subsidiaries
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Atlus USA
, Career Soft