To say that the games have a strong following of JRPG fans is fitting. However, one can’t deny that audiences are wishing for something new. At the recent 30th-anniversary live stream celebration, the producer of the Mana series, Masaru Oyamada, announced that the studio is working on the series’ next major entry.
Is a New Mana Game In Development?
The Mana series started as a spin-off of the Final Fantasy games. Eventually, it branched off as a standalone franchise. As part of the series 30th’ anniversary celebration, Square Enix held a live stream at the end of which the studio announced that it is working on a new entry. The stream isn’t available in English. However, RPG Site has since provided a translation of the announcement for non-Japanese audiences. In it, the series producer cautions audiences to “wait a little longer for the announcement”. He adds that the game is still too early in its development for them to “make a cool video announcement with a bang.” Along with the confirmation that a new Mana game is under development, Square Enix also announced that Trials of Mana will be ported over to mobile devices. In addition to this, an original Mana game developed specifically for mobile phones was announced. Echoes of Mana is a free-to-play mobile RPG that will include characters from previous Mana games. Square Enix recently released the Legend of Mana remake on current-gen console platforms. Before it, a remake of Secret of Mana was released. However, due to the lackluster success of both remakes, it seems as if Square Enix wants to go back to something like Trials of Mana. Having said that, we wouldn’t be surprised if the next Mana game will take cues from Trials of Mana, which itself is a 3D remake of 1995’s Trials of Mana for the Super Nintendo. Speaking of the next Mana game, the upcoming title is just one of the numerous projects that Square Enix is currently working on. In addition to Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2, as well as updates to Outriders and Marvel’s Avengers, Square Enix’s other projects include Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Final Fantasy XVI, Forspoken, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Life is Strange: True Colors, among others. TLDR; Prepare for a smorgasbord of games developed and/or published by Square Enix over the next few years.
