Metaphor: ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino is already working on a new game

Metaphor: ReFantazio was released last week and received unanimous critical acclaim. This is not surprising, as its famed director Katsura Hashimoto commandeered Persona 5! In 2016, Hashino, after the success of Persona 5 (then called Zero Re Fantasy), formed a new Atlus division called Studio Zero to work on Metaphor: ReFantazio. This meant leaving Persona to P-Studio.

Hashino revealed that Studio Zero has already begun work on a brand new game in a machine-translated Famitsu article with Silent Hill creator Keiichiro toyama. Hashino responded, "Ah, they have already started" when asked what the studio would do after Metaphor.

When asked if he is the one in charge of the new project Hashino takes a humble approach. "I don't think about it as a person," he said. "I think of Atlus as a team and what they should create. I want my users to be happy first, then I want to make the company happy. "That's the way I always work".

(He also works on the logic that he does not want his games "to look like they were designed in a boardroom by a bunch people," which is why we get bosses such as Homo Avades, and not just a dragon or chopper).

Hashino continues to emphasize Studio Zero's importance in the maze-like Atlus machine. It wasn't created just to create Metaphor: ReFantazio, but as "a place that is dedicated to new endeavors and calls itself Studio Zero". It's not clear if we'll get more Metaphor, or something completely different. Maybe a Catherine sequel. I don't think anyone wants that. I don't want that.

I wouldn't be shocked if Metaphor was spun off as its own series, given its early success. It sold a million copies on its first day. That is a huge amount for a studio that was still considered obscure to the west a decade earlier.