Following the Persona 5 Juggernaut

How will Atlus take the now-wildly successful Persona series forward in the future?

Persona 5 is widely regarded as being one of the top JRPGs of the decade, alongside fan favorites such as Dragon Quest XI. With the release of Persona 5, the Persona series has seen a huge surge in popularity. Its worldwide release was shown to be just as successful. By December of 2019, Atlus reported that over 3.2 million copies of Persona 5 had been sold worldwide, making it by far, the most popular Persona game in the franchise.

As is the case with Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden, many fans expected an enhanced rerelease of Persona 5, and Atlus delivered in the form of Persona 5 Royal. Adding additional playable characters, story characters, bosses, and much more, Persona 5 Royal was just as well-received as the original game. In addition to Persona 5 Royal, the newfound popularity of the series has surfaced in many other franchises. Joker, the main protagonist of the game, was unveiled as a DLC character in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Atlus also revealed Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, a musou-style spinoff game based in the Persona 5 universe and made by Atlus in collaboration with Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force Team, the developer famous for its Dynasty Warriors series.

With Persona 5 bringing tons of new fans into the franchise, a lot of people are now asking the big question: What does Atlus have in store next?

The New Games Plus Expo is a livestream event that will be taking place on June 23rd, 2020. Developers such as Spike Chunsoft, Sega, Koei Tecmo, and many more, will be coming together for several game announcements. Atlus will also be present and although nothing has been confirmed, there has been fan speculation that there might be a Persona 6 teaser. However, aside from a possible Persona 6 announcement, Atlus has several different options with its newfound fanbase.

More spinoff games

Currently, Persona 5 Scramble is only available in Japan. Despite being a spinoff game, Scramble is a direct sequel to the events of Persona 5. Riding the momentum generated by Persona 5, making Scramble available worldwide, and even giving information about its release date would be major news to the fans of the series. Releasing Scramble internationally would be relatively simple. Other than translating the game into English, the game is already complete.

Another possible announcement would be the continuation of porting its games onto other systems. Recently, Atlus has made Persona 4 Golden available on Steam. By porting a title onto Steam, Atlus now has the chance to appeal to the PC gamer base that might not have been interested in console gaming. Persona 4 Golden was released on the PS Vita and until now, was a PS Vita exclusive. Porting it over to the PC will allow both newer and older Persona fans who did not have access to a PS Vita, the chance to experience Persona 4 Golden for the first time. Atlus could continue this trend and port both Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal onto the Nintendo Switch. Ever since the initial release of Persona 5, there has always been a high demand among fans for the games to be ported onto the Switch. Originally teased as Persona 5 S, many fans jumped to conclusions and assumed that Persona 5 Scramble would actually be an announcement for Persona 5 Switch. By porting its games to other consoles, Atlus can give fans of those consoles a chance to play their games. Additionally, Atlus can continue growing its popularity by letting newer fans play older releases.

Remakes

With many new fans, it would also be a very good opportunity to remake Persona 1 and 2, allowing the fanbase to experience some of the previous games in the series. The Persona series as a whole, saw its first burst in popularity from the release of Persona 3, with only the most dedicated fans of the series having even heard of the first two games, let alone actually playing them. Despite its lackluster gameplay, Persona 3 carried with it an amazing story that drew the attention of fans everywhere. Even these older fans of the series have been asking for remakes of the first and second games, and now seems to be a golden opportunity. With these titles remade, Atlus could move on to remaking Persona 3, the game highly credited to being the cause of the initial success and the popularity of the franchise.

Reimagining

Other than remaking games, Atlus could take a bolder approach and make a complete reimagining of the first two Persona games. Similar to Final Fantasy VII’s remake, the original Persona games could have both their gameplay and story updated. Persona 1 and 2 lacked a lot of the elements that current fans have fallen in love with, such as the social link system. With a complete reimaging of the games, Atlus could modernize the oldest games of the series and finally give the fanbase the remakes that they have been asking for. Atlus has traditionally made “reimagines” in the form of Person 3 FES, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal so it is not out of the question that Atlus could reimagine Persona 1 and 2 in the future.

A break from Persona

Other than Persona-related news, there is always the possibly that Atlus will reveal details about their other series, the Shin Megami Tensei, or SMT, games (the Persona series is a spinoff of SMT). Known for its darker themes, the Persona series was a more lighthearted spinoff, especially the fourth and fifth games. SMT 5 is the latest installment of the Shin Megami Tensei series and it was revealed on January of 2017. However, news about the game, and the series went silent as Persona 5 started taking the spotlight. With such a large player base of new fans, now could be a good chance for Atlus to introduce them to their other series.

With their new found fan base, Atlus has several options moving forward. However, one thing is for certain, they won’t keep their hungry fans waiting.