The Persona franchise has been at the forefront of the JRPG category in the last several years. Atlus has been unrelenting with its efforts of developing Persona, pushing out entry after entry in relatively short periods. The short developmental periods have not impacted the quality of its new releases, as the latest franchise installment - Persona 5 Strikers - was one of the higher-rated RPGs upon its debut in 2020. Persona's consistent excellence in spite of hiatuses being few and far between is awe-inspiring, and it is worth noting the franchise has only gone a total of eight years without a new entry since its inception.
The JRPG scene has been dominated by long-running games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and both giants have an impressive track record of consistency in releases. Atlus seems to be following the examples set by these titles with the view to making Persona a long-running franchise of its own accord, and the developer has amassed an accomplished game catalog since Persona first burst on the scene with Revelations: Persona. The series has a slightly different formula for progression than Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, using spin-offs and re-releases to expand on its high school life simulation and dungeon-crawling gameplay.
Persona 6's Omission and a History of Persona Editions
Given Atlus' track record of development, speculation about Persona 6 and the improvements it could bring started to surface even before the release of Persona 5 Strikers. However, official information has been scant, and the hotly-anticipated title was conspicuously missing from Persona's 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2022. There may be more than a few uncomfortable murmurs in the fan base about this omission, but it's important to note this window isn't the longest fans have gone without a new release in the main series.
Revelations: Persona hit the markets in late 1996, and Atlus only gave a break of two years before releasing the sequels, Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Between the first Persona entry and the Persona 2: Innocent Sin sequel, Atlus was occupied with expanding the titles of its other franchises, releasing Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on both the Sega Saturn and PlayStation consoles. During this period, Atlus worked on several games of smaller repute, showing the developer was eager to try its hand at multiple projects simultaneously.
Growlanser released in the period between dual sequels Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and one of Atlus' biggest projects, Shin Megami Tensei, would get its first release in the West through Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne shortly after Eternal Punishment's debut. The Persona franchise didn't get any additions - either by way of spin-offs or main series - for the next six years. This marks the longest drought in the entire series, as Atlus shifted its focus to its Growlanser and Shin Megami Tensei franchises, with Growlanser having a solid four editions in its catalog by the time Persona 3 arrived in 2006.
The Persona franchise added a new title to its resume each year until 2010, with gamers getting Persona 4 just two years after Persona 3 in 2008. Evidence suggests Atlus was performing at peak capacity, as the two-year gap represents the shortest timeframe between two additions in the main Persona series. It is plausible to suggest the developer spent a considerable chunk of the six years between the releases of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment and Persona 3 with an eye on the future, fully fleshing out the storyline Persona 4 was going to follow.
The Developmental Shift to P-Studio Brought Focus on Quality
2010 was an uncharacteristically quiet year for Atlus. The developer churned out only seven titles, the fewest in any year since before the Persona franchise was born. One reason for its slow year could be its merger in October, and this would merely prove to be a minor bump in the road as Persona would get new releases each year from 2011 to 2016. Atlus used this time to focus mainly on Persona spin-off projects and developing other games like Etrian Odyssey, and it would be eight years after Persona 4 before Persona's main series got a new entry in Persona 5.
Atlus' dedicated Persona division P-Studio kept fans entertained with multiple Persona 4 spin-offs, like the enhanced PS Vita release Persona 4 Golden. In recent years, the developer has slowed down the volume of its releases, favoring quality over quantity. Since Persona 5's release in 2016 and the subsequent production break in 2017, P-Studio has churned out three follow-ups of the Game of The Year award winner, the most recent being Persona 5 Strikers. Judging from the eight-year gap between Persona 4 and 5, a pattern is emerging in Atlus' mode of operation. Older releases are revisited first with spin-offs and rereleases before adding to the main series, as it has done in the six-odd years since Persona 5.
Atlus may have omitted any mention of Persona 6 from the anniversary celebrations, but past behavior and rumors on the grapevine tell gamers to expect the new addition soon. Considering Persona's track record of high-quality releases, it can be assumed Atlus is carefully crafting Persona 6. Should Persona 6 be released before the start of 2025, and if the series continues, gamers can expect the pattern of revisiting old releases and spin-offs to repeat itself.
Persona 6 is in development.