Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal mark the franchise's departure from beloved cult hits to an international mega-franchise. The titles have outsold every preceding installment of Atlus' series, garnered critical acclaim, and made a splash well outside the series' usual JRPG and dating-sim niche.
Like any popular story-driven game, a large part of Persona 5's success can be attributed to the strength of its characters. The Phantom Thieves are a stellar cast whose broad range of personalities practically guarantee that at least one character will resonate with gamers. Even better, they form an appealing ensemble that is greater than the additive sum of its parts. Unique dynamics between each pair of characters—Yusuke and Futaba's mutual sniping, Morgana's unrequited affection toward Ann, the group's collective deference towards Makoto—force magnify existing personalities and make the group feel believable.
And Joker, as befitting of the Wild Card holder, is wonderfully realized through an array of dialogue options that run the gamut from effortlessly smooth, to sarcastic and snarky, to endearing and heartfelt. His inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's roster caught many gamers off guard, but—barring a few inevitable haters—he has proven himself a crowd-pleasing addition who stands shoulder to shoulder among dozens of far older gaming greats. Just as Cloud Strife became the poster boy for Final Fantasy as a whole, Joker seems destined to fulfill a similar role for Persona.
The Perils of Popularity
This poses Atlus with an obvious, but difficult question: what's next for the Phantom Thieves? If history is any indication, they will be relegated to cameo appearances in fighting games, Atlus spin-offs, and receive oblique references in future Persona titles that have traded them out for a fresh cast of characters. While there is a strong argument to be made that Atlus make a break with tradition and feature the cast as stars of future games, Persona 5's own narrative is, in part, a cautionary tale against fame.
Over the course of Persona 5, the Thieves take on targets with ever-escalating profiles, becoming anonymous celebrities themselves in the process. Each character—and Ryuji in particular—is hit with the temptation to unmask and benefit from this burgeoning fame. The game makes a point of tracking their notoriety with a popularity poll in the corner of loading screens, consistently reminding the player of what a big deal they have become. Unsurprisingly, this fame proves to be fickle late in the game, and one gets the sense that pursuing the approval of the masses, rather than enacting justice for its own sake, is a play doomed to failure.
Given the temptation to capitalize on the Phantom Thieves' popularity, Atlus could easily fail to heed its own message. The Persona series could become the Persona 5 series, which, despite the title's numerous virtues, would be a terrible shame.
Like Final Fantasy, the reoccurring challenge of a fresh start, and the need to reinvent itself with each new installment, is what drives the series' innovation. Persona's fandom has been steadily growing in the west with each new entry, particularly in the series' Katsura Hashino era. If Atlus settled for making Persona 3 sequels, the Phantom Thieves would never arrive on the scene. But that does not mean Atlus should follow their long-established playbook.
Sequels & Spinoffs
The Phantom Thieves' story has already received one direct follow-up in Japan, in the form of Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers. Western audiences have been clamoring for localization since it's release—and while there have been some encouraging signs, the wait for a port has no end in sight. Scramble is ultimately a spin-off though, featuring only a few hallmarks of the beloved series. A Persona game without the dating-sim and monster collecting elements will ultimately feel like something else, and while that isn't an inherently bad thing, it will likely leave Phantom Thieves fans longing for something meatier.
One of the reasons the Phantom Thieves resonate so strongly with gamers is that the Persona 5's themes of criminal rebellion perfectly aligned with the characters' arcs. Anything that doesn't allow the characters to continue growing, and further refine their identities will end up feeling hollow in comparison. But Atlus has gotten creative with interconnected franchises before, and the Phantom Thieves present a unique storytelling opportunity, similar to what Square Enix is doing with Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Persona 6 should continue its tradition of referencing prior franchise installments. But rather than being lowkey about it, with inside jokes and blink-and-miss-it callbacks, the Phantom Thieves' actions could feature prominently in the world of Persona 6 as a major historical event. Or, better yet, the Phantom Thieves could be an ongoing force in the world of Persona. And to flesh those adventures out, Atlus could work on a separate Persona 5 franchise. Rather than a straight reprisal of Persona 5 or Royal, this new series could act as a sort of testing ground to shake up the standard Persona formula with new features.
Best of Both Worlds
Having a separate Persona series to play with would allow the developers to try out experiments like Hashino's original, road trip premise for Persona 5. It could also risk fundamental changes to the way scheduling works, or renovate more staid aspects of the series' social link system. At the same time, players who are franchise purists will be able to appreciate everything the series has historically offered in Persona 6, featuring a fresh cast of characters.
A direct Persona 5 sequel would mean that the core cast of characters would need to age up. But there is a precedent for direct sequels featuring the same cast of characters in the Persona franchise. Persona 2: Innocent Sin was followed by Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, in a two-part storyline similar to Stephen King's IT. While those two games are almost two halves of a whole, it would be refreshing to see each installment of the Persona 5 sequel series stand by itself.
There are plenty of compelling story threads yet to delve into in the Persona 5 universe. It would be a delight to shape how Joker evolves in college and young adulthood, or watch Yusuke make a name for himself as a world-class artist, and see Makoto pursue her dream of policework to honor her father's legacy. Time will tell what fate Atlus decides for the Phantom Thieves, but their future seems promising indeed.
Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are available now for PlayStation 4.