Of the many iconic, ongoing JRPG series, Persona is one that has existed for a long while, but only came into mainstream popularity fairly recently. Following the launch of Persona 5, the Persona series expanded to new heights, allowing for a variety of spin-off games and ports of older games in the franchise. However, it seems that development on a new Persona installment has been all but confirmed.
Given Persona's explosion in popularity, Atlus, the studio behind the series, has made Persona its top priority. This has led to the release of offshoot style games like Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and even a Persona 5 anime adaptation. Though, before the massive amount of success the series garnered, it was rumored that Persona 5 would be the last game in the series. Now, it appears that has changed.
Following a job posting made by Atlus to recruit more game developers, the post mentioned a desire for Persona 6 to surpass Persona 5. Director Naoto Hiraoka had previously commented saying that "the next step" had been taken when asked about the prospect of Persona 6. Thus, it seems like Persona 6 is at the very least in the planning stages of development.
However, Hiraoka also mentioned that there was a lot of pressure in terms of surpassing Persona 5, especially with an understaffed development team. In the past, Atlus made it a priority for the Persona games to one-up each other with each new installment. Persona 4 had to surpass Persona 3, Persona 5 had to surpass Persona 4, and now, it seems Atlus wishes for Persona 6 to surpass Persona 5.
While the prospect of Persona 6 surpassing Persona 5 is a nice prospect, it's also an ambitious one. Persona 5 managed to improve upon its predecessor in terms of visuals, gameplay, and quality-of-life features that made sense in terms of ushering the series into a more modern age, but that also presents an interesting challenge. For how much Atlus has done to perfect the formula of Persona, it's hard to imagine what else the studio can do in terms of improving upon what has been established in Persona 5.
Then again, fans of Persona 4: Golden likely found it hard to believe how Atlus could improve upon what was established in the previous game, back before Persona 5 was first announced. Now, Persona 5 is one of the greatest contributing factors to the series' current success. Although, right now, there's no telling what Persona 6 will look like. With any luck, more information regarding the upcoming Persona entry will be revealed in time.
Source: PersonaCentral