Is It Time To Move On From Persona 5?

You ever start by writing something and have to say how much you like the subject in hand but want it to end? That’s how I am with Persona 5. Look, I love Persona 5 and that’s not a past tense thing I still do and think ATLUS created magic with this game. When you look at Persona 5 it has that status of boosting a long standing game franchise onto another level that everything is boosted from. It’s like Fire Emblem: Awakening and Yakuza 0 for Persona it’s not only a great game but an important one.

However, it’s been 10 years since the vanilla games launch and we’ve had spin offs, remakes, sequels, kinda sequels, a weird gatcha spin off and multiple guest appearances which was added to recently with Overwatch. All of this meaning we have nothing on Persona 6. It’s a mystical game which is getting to that will we ever get it category that Kingdom Hearts 3 had. The continued push of Persona 5 has seemingly put moving on from it on the back burner. Yes Persona 3 had a remake and Persona 4 is getting a remake but this is looking at the past and established stories this isn’t looking to build something new.

I have been wondering if we are more likely to have Persona 5 2 over Persona 6 at this point. The Phantom X I felt had potential if you retooled it as a game and not a cash sink gatcha game. They have the models and cutscenes for the majority and all it would need is changing a few details gameplay wise and it’d be a game to go. Would this make sense? Well Persona 5 as a series has sold 10.45 million copies worldwide with roughly 23.5-27 million sold worldwide (I couldn’t see anything back up the 27 million Google ai said) it means that if we take the 23.5 million figure, the Persona 5 series makes up nearly half of all persona game sales it would make sense business wise to keep up the franchise. We are in a time of cash cows being milked until they no longer produce and Persona 5 at a brand keeps making money (I wonder how much Phantom X has made).
 
It could also be that Persona 5’s success leaves ATLUS stuck in a hole. A series that changes protagonist with every game has accidentally found a mascot and can’t move on. Fire Emblem seemingly has this with Marth given he was in Smash Bros Melee and out of him and Roy he came back for Brawl with Ike but Fire Emblem wasn’t really know then so it seems fine. Persona however it’s all Joker and maybe that’s because of the crossover stuff. Marth just had Smash Bros that was his crossover game but Joker has been in Smash Ultimate, Overwatch 2 and a bunch of other games and things I’ve forgotten. The issue is when these happens for a game that moves as much as Persona 5 did and front a centre of it is Joker then he becomes that mascot. It’s an odd one it leaves any future games with the initial ‘where’s Joker’ talk and do you really want to shoehorn him in, maybe you reference it like the Rise ads that are in Persona 5 showing it’s the same world as Persona 4 I’m not sure the best solution.

Honestly, I still think we are minimum a year away from any Persona 6 announcement. It feels like that Persona 5 train is still chugging along and as such it’s making money. If it wasn’t then Phantom X wouldn’t be getting updates and it would be as strong of a brand that Overwatch collaborates with them 10 years after Persona 5 first launched. We will have to wait and see but with Persona 4 remake likely taking precedence in development it could be even longer.