Ahead of Persona 6 and his own new JRPG, series veteran takes us back to “how Persona came about”

Kouji Okada, a veteran designer and director on Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, says the Persona series grew from his wish to move beyond repeated stories about ordinary heroes saving the world. He wanted to explore a smaller, more intimate setting, and the unexpectedly positive response to Shin Megami Tensei if… encouraged the team to develop a coming-of-age RPG centred on school life.

Okada says school stories connect with players through familiar experiences and the intense, formative emotions of that period. His new student-focused RPG, Villion:Code, is due on 26 January 2027 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Switch and Switch 2, and Steam; he says Persona influenced it, but the aim was not to make another version of Persona. He describes his approach as bringing the game world and mechanics together to deliver engaging play and meaningful questions.