Sega wants to make live-action adaptations of Persona and Catherine
I'm not so keen.
Atlus games like Catherine, Persona and Shin Megami Tensei could be getting live-action adaptations in the future if Sega gets its way.
As revealed by IGN, the publisher wants to expand its storytelling into other mediums, and that means picking the brains of Atlus and plucking games out of its library to bring to the silver screen.
Toru Nakahara, lead producer for the live-action Sonic movies and Sonic Prime TV show, said "Atlus' worlds are filled with high drama, cutting-edge style and compelling characters," and highlighting the Persona series as an example of stories that "really resonate with our fans."
Nakahara called it "an opportunity to expand the lore like no one has seen—or played—before," adding: "Together, Sega and Atlus are working to bring these stories and worlds to life through new mediums and for new audiences."
Sega hasn't actually said if any of this will happen yet or with which Atlus game, simply saying it was currently looking into different studios and producers to explore live-action TV shows and movies.
I'd be very interested to see how bombastic, stylish games like Persona 5 could translate to a live-action environment. Anime often gets ripped to shreds when it's put through a real-world lens, and I can count far more terrible live-action anime and videogame adaptations than good ones. But Sega has proved that it is possible—Sonic the Hedgehog 2 became the highest-grossing videogame movie ever in the US earlier this year. But Sonic feels like a much better source material to play fast and loose with, and I wonder how a movie or TV show could best tell the more story-rich offerings from Atlus.