Persona series director discusses spin-off development

The recently announced Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Persona 4: The Ultimate Suplex Hold (or Persona 4 Arena 2) and Persona 4: Dancing All Night, are fairly far along in their development, according to a recent interview translated by Siliconera.

Speaking with Famitsu, series director Katsura Hashino explained that Atlus hasn't "been able to find the right timing" for announcements. While the Etrian-like dungeon-crawler, Persona Q, is heading into its testing phase, Dancing All Night is "pretty much done." Development on The Ultimate Suplex Hold is going well.

"As for Persona 4: The Ultimate Suplex Hold, the folks from Arc System Works are helping out, and the development progress is going very smoothly," Hashino said. "By summer of next year, we'll be delivering a very voluminous PlayStation 3 version."

Hashino added that as far as Persona Q's development is concerned, the team is focused on making something a little different while still appealing to fans of the series.

"Since next year will be the 25th anniversary of the Atlus brand, we'd also like to use this opportunity to spread the essence from other titles apart from the Persona titles," Hashino said.

All three spin-offs were announced in Japan Nov. 24, along with Persona 5. Persona Q will launch June 5, 2014 for Nintendo 3DS. Dancing All Night is expected in fall 2014 on PS Vita, while The Ultimate Suplex Hold launches summer 2014 for PS3.