Near the end of 2020, Atlus teased that it had big plans for its beloved RPG franchisePersonaand that it would be revealing new projects meant to celebrate the series in 2022. That was perfectly appropriate, of course, becausePersonareaches its 25th anniversary in 2021. The year started off strong with the worldwide release of onePersonaspinoff, but then all went quiet again. Fans of the franchise have spent a great deal of time wondering if Atlus still has plans after all. At long last, Atlus has come forward with signs that indicate 2021 and 2022 will both be big years forPersona, and forPersona 5in particular.
Persona 5constantly gets credit for vastly increasing the franchise’s popularity in the West. Considering the millions of copies that it’s sold, there’s definitely no contesting its popularity in the JRPG realm. That massive fanbase would be more than happy to see Atlus put more focus on the Phantom Thieves, the ragtag vigilante team of teenage social outcasts thatPersona 5fans quickly came to love over the course of the game. While Atlus mentioned that it’s looking intoPersona 6in its recent announcements, it’s also shown its hand in other ways. There’s a ton ofPersonaproducts meant to get revealed over the course of the next year, starting in September. Atlus hasn’t confirmed anything, but the sheer scope of the upcoming project list suggests that the Phantom Thieves will remain in the spotlight longer than expected.
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The Possibilities of Persona 5 Spinoffs
A website forPersona’s 25th anniversaryteases a celebration for the RPG’s birthday, which will kick of a year of announcements. It’s no small pool of announcements, either. The website suggests that no less than sevenPersona-related projects will be revealed between September 2021 and Autumn 2022 and statistically speaking, it’s likely at least one of those projects will have something to do withPersona 5.Even if every previousPersonagame gets a remake for this anniversary, there’s still multiple slots forPersona 5-related adventures that keep the Phantom Thieves busy.
The question, then, is what kinds of spinoffs or other projects Atlus might want the Phantom Thieves to feature in. One likely choice isaPersona 5fighting game, something that many fans believe was on the way because of certain website domains that Atlus owns. The mysterious ‘P5U’ could meanPersona 5 Ultimaxis in development, a follow-up toPersona 4 Arena Ultimax,which allowedPersona 3andPersona 4characters to duke it out. Beyond that, though, the sky is the limit. Another previous Atlus domain called ‘P5AG’ might mean Atlus is looking at aPersona 5spinoff starring Joker’s rival, Goro Akechi. Alternatively, simpler but equally crucial projects could be on the way, like aPersona 5port to PC.
Time is the biggest factor that determines what additional projectsPersona 5could get over the next year. If all of these projects are supposed to release in rapid succession, that suggests they aren’t huge projects, because they’ve likely been developed alongside one another. In other words,a directPersona 5sequelthat doesn’t spin off into a new genre asPersona 5 Strikersdid is unlikely. That also means smaller spinoffs aren’t out of the question, though. If anything, Atlus' acknowledgement of the influence thatPersona 5has on the brand suggests that it’s probably exploring the IP a little more while it starts planningPersona 6.
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Persona 6 May Be Far Off
In fact, there’s a small chance that the upcoming year of announcements won’t even be the true end of the line forPersona 5.Atlus acknowledgedPersona 6in the midst of these announcements and confirmed that it’s working on the game with the intention to surpassPersona 5in quality. That’s a high bar by any metric, and Atlus shared other details that suggest thatPersona 6isn’t coming out anytime soon. For instance, the studio is looking to expand aggressively due to a belief that it’ll need a much bigger team tomake aPersona 6that lives up to expectations.It also doesn’t sound like many concrete parts are in place forPersona 6right now. The game is much more in the planning stages, which suggestsPersona 6is many years away, rather than around the corner like some fans had hoped.
On the one hand, it’s a little disappointing to hear thatit’ll be so long beforePersona 6releases. On the other, it’s fantastic news for anyone who wantedPersona 5to get more love. If Atlus isn’t anywhere near finished withPersona 6,one of the most logical ways that it can keep fans entertained is by releasing morePersona 5content in small doses. After all, the title appeals to newcomers andPersonaveterans alike, so it has nothing to lose by getting a little more mileage out of the Phantom Thieves. With sevenPersonaprojects on the way, odds look better than ever that that’s exactly what Atlus is planning.
Persona 5’s Show Goes On
Atlus once gave off the impressionthatPersona 5 Strikersmarked the endin the Phantom Thieves' chapter of the franchise. Fans believed that the spinoff would bePersona 5’s last hurrah, delving into Suddenly that’s not so certain.Persona 6isn’t anywhere close to release and the celebration ofPersona’s 25th birthday is even more ambitious than expected. In fact, ifPersona 6really needs so much more support and planning to get off the ground, it might not even be a part of the coming year’s announcement cycle, making more room for spinoffs, remakes, and ports that fans are waiting for.
Naturally,Persona 5isn’t the only one that benefits from the huge cluster of projects that Atlus is working on. For instance,Persona 3’s chances at a remaster just skyrocketed, and thePersonagames that came before that might also be on the table for remakes. However,Persona 5is almost certainly the definitive winner. Atlus is clearly aware ofPersona 5’s popularity, which means it knows how much it has to game from making morePersona 5products. For a while, fans weren’t sure if 2021 would be a big year forPersonaafter all, but Atlus just readily dampened those doubts. There’s no questioning now just how much is in store forPersonaduring the anniversary.
Persona 5is available now for PS3 and PS4.
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