Developer 2015 Plans: Atlus, Game Freak, Valhalla and more

Various developers got together to discuss their plans for the coming year, including Atlus, Game Freak and Koei Tecmo.

Japanese website 4Gamer recently gold hold of various key staffers, developers, producers from Japanese studios to quiz them on how 2014 went, along with teasing what's to come for the next twelve months.

Key Nintendo-related folk include Katsura Hashino (Persona series), Tomonobu Itagaki (Devil's Third), Tetsuya Watanaba (Pokémon series) and Akiko Kuroda (Bayonetta 2).

Katsura Hashino (Atlus) - Persona series

"Looking towards the coming year, we're rallying around the idea of bringing change through our own individuality. Internally, this is summarized in our team motto as 'Be personal for change.' Now when people think of the idea of individuality, it's often framed in terms of straying away from social norms and the everyday rules of day-to-do living. People often refer to Atlus' philosophy as a developer in this sense, although it's also not without some negative connotations; dangerous people, for instance, are often viewed as having a sense of individuality that makes them go too far. But to me personally, individuality is as much about the good as it is the bad and as we display it towards other people, it affords an opportunity for our words, our thinking processes, our conduct to change. Individuality, for me, is most strongly about that power of human potential.

In recent times especially, there's a pervading sense of oppression for many people at an existential level, but so long as we as a species are able to form relationships one another in this world, we'll always have the ability within ourselves to be able to break free from such restraints, both as individuals, but especially for groups that have a strong sense of self. In making a new proper numbered entry in the Persona series, we're hoping to bring those issues to the forefront and are working tireless on it to make it happen, so be sure to keep an eye on more information about Persona 5 in the coming months."

Tomonobu Itagaki (Valhalla Game Studios) - Devil's Third (Wii U)

"We're finally coming upon the release of Devil's Third on the Wii U after six years, two of which were spent conceptualizing the game and four of which were spent on actual development. I know I've made my fans wait a long time for this game, but I figure that if I'm going to strike out on my own for this thing, I better do it with a bang, so the game just ended up taking a real life of its own as time went on. Although given that there aren't necessarily a lot of independent developers that have that sort of luxury with time, maybe it's a bit hard to relate to in the end. Regardless, the single player content for the game should rank favorably with what we've seen in action games until now. And then when it comes to online versus mode stuff, I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at the breadth and scope of content we've manage to make for it. We still don't have a release date to announce quite yet, but once it's out, I look forward to playing it with everything. It's going to be packed full of awesome content!"

Tetsuya Watanaba (Game Freak) - Pokémon

"We're doing a lot of different things with respect to our next project, so right now we're focusing on getting ready to announce it. We sincerely hope from the bottom of our hearts that it'll be worth checking out once we get to that point."

Kikuchi Keisuke (Koei Tecmo) - Fatal Frame

"We're looking to announce a new game sometime early next year, one that's markedly indulgent on our part, so keep an ear open for word on that."

Katsuhiro Harada (Bandai Namco) - Pokken Tournament

"Pokken Tournament is slated for 2015, so just wait a little longer for more information on that! There's still a lot we haven't discussed yet on that. I've just been so busy with other things lately that I haven't had the time to turn my attention back towards it yet."

Akiko Kuroda (Platinum Games) - Bayonetta 2

"I've started work on my next project, but it's going to be a little while before it's ready for showtime. I'm hoping to have more new developments for Bayonetta during 2015, so keep an eye out for that!"

Yusuke Hashimoto (Platinum Games) - Bayonetta series

"I've actually got a new title in the works as we speak! We're working really hard to make it something people will absolutely want to play for themselves, so we hope to keep having the support of our fans in 2015!"

For more developer quotes, click here.

What are you looking forward to from these developers/studios in 2015?