Helping propel the series into stardom, the various adventures of Persona 5‘s cast helped solidify the JRPG series’ popularity worldwide. Games like Persona 3 and Persona 4 saw positive reception in the US before, but that was generally from JRPG audience. Persona never really saw widespread acclaim before Persona 5, which would sell record numbers for the franchise and introduced a whole new fanbase to Persona. However, all good things come to an end, as the studio presumably moves on to the Persona 6.
Unfortunately for new fans, Persona is very much like Final Fantasy in one key aspect: every mainline entry is completely separate from one another. The Phantom Thieves fans have come to know and love have appeared in several of Persona 5 spin-off games, but once Persona 6 receives an official announcement, that marks the end of their adventures. There’s already been hints of Persona 6 being announced soon, but at the very least, the game is presumably in development. Saying goodbye at the end of Persona 5 was painful enough, but knowing the Phantom Thieves won’t come back could be worse.
For Atlus and Sega, Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal ended up selling record numbers for the Persona franchise. Previously, Atlus West had done pretty well localizing and releasing Persona 3/4/Golden, but the majority of fans in the west were generally from the niche JRPG audience. Thanks to a lot of positive media coverage and praise from fans, Persona 5‘s success ended up ballooning far beyond expectations. The stylish art style alongside a flashy turn-based combat system, paired with the endearing qualities of the social simulator, made Persona 5 much more approachable than previous entries.
Most of all, Persona 5 was host to an incredible cast of characters and character designs that very quickly became iconic. “Best girl” arguments aside, the main cast of Persona 5 and Royal had incredibly unique personalities, Personas, weapons, and abilities. Even Joker, the blank-slate protagonist for Persona 5, had his own aesthetic qualities and personality that made him stand out. Players enjoyed getting to know (most of) these characters over the hundred-hour playthroughs, as the Phantom Thieves ensemble was a big part as to why Persona 5 was so enjoyable by so many.
While a Persona 6 announcement could be coming in the next few years, the crew from Persona 5 certainly aren’t done yet. As with every Persona game, Atlus generally enjoys expanding Persona games with multiple spin-off titles. The same has proved true with Persona 5, with the Dancing series spin-off as well as Persona 5 Scramble. There’s still the potential for a few more spin-offs as well, such as the Arena fighting game spin-off that came out for Persona 4. Not to mention Persona 5 Scramble hasn’t been localized to other territories yet, so there’s still time.
That being said, once Persona 5 Scramble is localized, the Persona series is presumably going to go dark for a while. As production ramps up on the next Persona game, the marketing drip feed will begun and news will be sparse for a while. Granted, Persona 5‘s development was elongated drastically due to a number of limiting factors like Index’s bankruptcy, so Persona 6‘s development time ideally won’t take as long. Then again, issues with the pandemic could essentially do the same thing, so it’s a toss up for now. Persona 6 is rumored to be in development, but for now nothing official has been confirmed.
Persona has generally always moved on to a new cast with the next mainline entry, but this time it will be especially sad. The Phantom Thieves became iconic for Persona, more so than any other main cast previously. Considering Persona 5 was the most popular game to date, losing the Phantom Thieves will hurt at first. That being said, Atlus and P-Studio will take all of the beneficial improvements and innovations from Persona 5 and incorporate them into a true next-gen experience with Persona 6.
Persona 5 started life as a PS3 title in Japan, so there’s potential for a big jump in graphical fidelity and power for Persona 6. The next entry will be better for it, but Persona 5 and Phantom Thieves fans will still miss their heroes moving into the next game.
Persona 6 is rumored to be in development.
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