Atlus has a gold mine in its hands in the form of Persona 5. As if the franchise wasn't a success already, this latest entry has sold millions of copies, and the expanded version Persona 5 Royal even exceeded Atlus' own expectations for sales. Even though Altus is capitalizing on the love for Persona 5 with Royal as well as the hack-and slash RPG Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, there's clearly even more adoration than the company realizes. Persona 5 players are willing to put a lot of time into content related to the game and are highly interested in what else Atlus puts out.
With that in mind, what are the odds that Atlus makes a direct sequel to Persona 5? It would be a bit of a break in convention for a franchise that doesn't generally do complete direct sequels. However, knowing how well this latest entry did, Atlus might decide that a break in convention is exactly what's in order and leave Persona 6 on the shelf for a little while. As exciting as the idea of a sequel might be, there's a lot of questions Atlus would have to answer to figure out how a sequel would work. It might result in something breaking even more Persona conventions, but that would hardly keep it from being just as compelling an experience as the source material.
A Possible Plotline
Traditionally, Persona games follow a clear formula involving high schoolers gaining supernatural powers. Naturally, a Persona 5 sequel would want to follow the same formula -- but that might be a little complicated considering the timeline, with a few members of the Phantom Thieves on their way out of high school. Even if the game is set a year or two in the future, many of the characters will be in very different places in life. However, having the Phantom Thieves be college-aged in a sequel might have a lot of potential. If so much time has passed since they were heroes, it makes sense their Personas would have atrophied. As they become adults themselves after railing against adults in their society, a new mission to steal hearts and protect Japan would be presented in an interesting new light.
The game would likely need some compelling new antagonists, and there's plenty of possibilities. For instance, it would be easy for villains to rise from their previous conflict with Masayoshi Shido, from people seeking vengeance on the Thieves or trying to build something new out of the ruins of Shido's schemes. It could also play more heavily on the Persona 5 theme of people using the Metaverse for evil while the Thieves try to use it for good. There's only a handful of Persona users that appear in the game, but it's clear that Persona users can become very powerful threats. Maybe a sequel would involve many more people discovering the Metaverse and using it for their own benefit while the Thieves try to prevent this hidden world's misuse.
Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal?
Perhaps the most important thing for Atlus to consider in a sequel is whether it's a sequel to the original game or the expanded version. There's lots of details in each game that would affect the plot of a sequel. For instance, Kasumi Yoshizawa only shows up in Persona 5 Royal. Although she has a complicated relationship with the ideology of the Phantom Thieves, her close relationship with Joker and her role in Royal's postgame mean she would surely be involved in Royal 2. In the original game, she either doesn't exist or never comes up, so it would be odd if she appeared in a sequel to the original game.
Dr. Maruki is another character that would only appear if the sequel is based on Persona 5 Royal. It seems unlikely that someone with a warm but troubled relationship with the Phantom Thieves and such a deep connection to the Metaverse wouldn't come up in a Royal sequel. He might be an important ally in a new battle to steal villainous hearts. Perhaps his research will be critical in understanding what other Persona users are scheming to do with the Metaverse, or he'll be able to supplement Futaba's knack for researching on the fly.
Most important of all, a sequel will have to address Goro Akechi. In the original Persona 5, it's pretty clear that Akechi gives his life to save the Phantom Thieves, but the true ending of Persona 5 Royal implies that Akechi's fate is harder to determine. In fact, recent datamining indicates that Akechi might be alive at the end of Persona 5 Royal. Atlus seems like it intentionally wanted to create some uncertainty around his fate, which leaves an opening for Akechi to appear in a sequel. If he and the Phantom Thieves are older when they meet again, it'll mean a lot for how they all look on Akechi's sins and his hope for redemption.
Changing Timelines
One more thing that Atlus will have to answer is what Persona 5 Scramble has to do with another sequel. This Dynasty Warriors crossover is very different in style from the original game. It came out around the same time as Royal, so there wasn't exactly room for characters like Yoshizawa and Maruki who are unique to Royal, not to mention Scramble introduced a character who isn't in any other Persona 5 game. It might result in Atlus declaring that, while Scramble is the official sequel to the original Persona 5, it will develop an additional sequel specifically for Persona 5 Royal that can involve the aforementioned characters unique to it.
Some players might feel that Scramble is already sufficient as a sequel. However, the hack-and-slash genre isn't for everyone; many fans might be more compelled by a traditional JRPG sequel to Persona 5 or Royal. If Atlus has the faith in this Persona entry to keep expanding on it, then a traditional sequel might be underway. Igor might invite Joker to the Velvet Room once again for all kinds of reasons, based on what direction Atlus things the Phantom Thieves could go in next. Joker and the Phantom Thieves have had such a successful few years that it's hard to imagine that they have anything but a very bright future ahead of them.
Persona 5 Royal is available now for PS4.