If anyone can take credit for the global acceptance of JRPGs in recent years, it's Katsura Hashino. Director of Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the man who has brought his vision of the genre to place Atlus among the most important companies in the world, challenging a fiefdom where Square Enix has always maintained its safe bastions of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, which have failed to adapt or change with sufficient player support, even if they remain popular. However, the evolution of the JRPG is far from over, according to Hashino, and he believes that we are now living in the dawn of JRPG 3.0.
In an interview with 4gamer, Katsura Hashino reviews the history of the genre and divides its progress into three phases. Version 1.0 would be the conception of JRPGs in the past, what he calls "true classics". He doesn't mention examples, but Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in the late 80s would be the closest to that vision. The genre entered its second iteration with "their current style, which seems of higher quality because of how much more responsive they are to the player". The next step, one that will revolutionise these games structurally and in the presentation of their gameplay, will be 3.0. And Hashino would like to think he is forging it right now.
Of course, the interview doesn't mention anything enlightening about his future, but our hopes are once again pinned on the upcoming announcement of Persona 6, the next big instalment in the genre's most famous current franchise, which Hashino is currently working on after completing Metaphor: Refantazio in 2024.
Who knows, maybe with The Game Awards so close, Hashino is warning us that we'll be seeing some of that JRPG 3.0 very soon. What do you think?