Long-Time SMT Series ‘Demon Artist’, Kazuma Kaneko, Departs Atlus

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.