Whether or not you’ve heard of Shoji Meguro before, you’ve probably heard of some of his works from games like Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, notably Persona 5’s iconic song “Last Surprise”. Sadly, the famed composer is leaving Atlus after many years of bringing games to life thanks to his music.

Meguro will fulfill his dream of making a game as a freelancer, where Kodansha Game Creator’s Lab will be supporting him with the development of the game which will be announced on November 6. Atlus will still be working with Meguro for some projects, so it is safe to say that we will still hear from him sometime in the future.

Shoji Meguro joined Atlus back in 1995, working on numerous soundtracks from games like Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Persona 3, Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden, as well as Persona 5 Royal and Strikers.

Here is a message from Meguro (via Gematsu):

Hello. I’m Shoji Meguro.

I know this is quite sudden, but I, Shoji Meguro, resigned from Atlus Co., Ltd. at the end of September 2021.

I’ve been creating role-playing games by myself during my spare time for the past five years now, and 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.

I decided to leave Atlus and focus on my dream of developing indie games.

However, I will continue to maintain a good relationship with Atlus. While focusing on my own indie game development, I will continue to work with Atlus on game music, so I hope that those of you who were concerned about the sudden announcement will feel relieved.

Lastly, I would like to thank Atlus Co., Ltd. and my family for accompanying me. I would also like to thank Kodansha for giving me a chance to take on the challenge.

I hope you will enjoy the music of Shoji Meguro as well as the games I am currently working on.

We wish Shoji Meguro the best of luck!