Even though nothing has been announced for Persona 6, there's no doubt that it's coming. In just the past couple of days, Atlus has heavily teased that there will be a big announcement in September of this year, which just happens to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Persona series. Is there a better time to announce the next mainline title? Probably not. While there's certainly a chance that Persona 6 won't be revealed, at this point it would be shocking if it wasn't.
There has been a lot of speculation about Persona 6, ranging from the release date to the characters. There's also a discussion about what Persona 6 would need to do to surpass Persona 5. Everyone is eager to get a glimpse of what's coming in the first next-gen, mainline Persona game, but it's important that both Atlus and Persona fans take a step back from Persona 5 and look at Persona 6 as its own project. Persona 6 doesn't have to be "better" or "worse," it just has to stand out in its own unique way.
Persona 6 News Could Be Coming Soon
Persona 6 has been a hot topic among fans for a long time, but now it seems like the wait might finally be coming to an end. Atlus recently launched a special website commemorating Persona's 25th Anniversary and teased a lot of great content in the year to come. Specifically, Atlus has teased a mind-boggling seven new projects on the website.
It's not confirmed whether or not all of these individual projects will be announced at once during a big celebratory event, or if news will come out through the next year, but Atlus did confirm that its celebration of Persona's 25th year will begin in September and last until Fall 2022. The way the website is formatted, it almost looks like the first teased project will be shown in September of this year, with the 7th project announced in Fall 2022. If that's true, this year is about to get crazy for Persona fans.
The Persona series has sold more than 15 million units worldwide as of 2021, so the hype for these announcements is real. There are a lot of things that could be announced, such as a new anime series or collaboration — all seven projects don't have to be video games.
That said, if Persona 6 isn't somewhere in that lineup, it'll be a massive missed opportunity and leave a lot of fans disappointed. It's hard to imagine Persona 6 not being announced sometime during the big, year-long celebration, so it might be coming a lot sooner than fans think. Atlus recently confirmed that Persona 6 is in development through a job posting, which isn't a surprise, but it is exciting to have it official.
There's A Lot of Pressure on Persona 6 Because of Persona 5's Success
Since its original release, Persona 5 has become the most popular Persona game to date. It's brought countless new fans into the franchise and is widely considered one of the best JRPGs of all time. The stylish art style, music, and loveable characters have made it nothing short of iconic. Simply put, Persona 6 has a lot to live up to.
Atlus is most definitely feeling that pressure, especially considering that it has always made it a priority to surpass the previous game. Persona 5 kicked off what many consider to be a JRPG renaissance, and Persona 6 has the chance to be genre-defining. Like Persona 5, Persona 6 will probably have a long series of spin-offs in various mediums; if the base game isn't solid, it'll be a rough few years.
Persona 5's Phantom Thieves have been in the spotlight since 2016, and it's almost time for a new group to take over. Change is a good thing, and there's only so much more that can be done with Persona 5, but the Phantom Thieves' successors have quite big shoes to fill. The comparisons will be unavoidable, and fans will definitely go into Persona 6 wondering if it could possibly live up to the expectations set by Persona 5.
Every franchise wants new entries to improve upon the previous ones, and that's not a bad standard to have. However, in order to truly live up to Persona 5, Persona 6 needs to have an opportunity to stand out on its own merits, and not just as Persona 5's inevitable successor. Persona 6 will be more of a sibling to Persona 5 than a sequel, just like all the previous Persona games, so it needs to be evaluated as its own title as much as possible.
Persona 6 Should Be Unique as a Next-Gen JRPG
It's true that Persona 5 gives the next installment in the series a lot to live up to, and it's also true that there will undoubtedly be some fans disappointed in Persona 6. It's impossible to please everyone, and fans have a lot of very different imaginings of what the game should be. Instead of trying to force a story that one-ups Persona 5, Persona 6 should embrace the opportunity it has to stand out.
Persona 6 will be the first next-gen Persona title, and that's a big deal. Next-gen hardware opens up a ton of new gameplay and narrative possibilities that Persona 6 should fully explore and take advantage of. Persona 6 is also being developed by a different core team, with most of the previous team members working on Project Re Fantasy as Studio Zero.
That might make some fans nervous, but the new core team has an amazing opportunity to bring fresh ideas to the Persona franchise. Many of the classic elements are likely to stay the same, but too much of a good thing can end up being a bad thing. Take the Pokemon franchise, for example; the classic formula is solid, but fans are eager to see new ideas which is why Pokemon Legends: Arceus was such an exciting announcement.
Altogether, it could be a huge turning point for the series and Persona 6 might have some significant differences that set it apart from the rest of the series. It will be compared to Persona 5 no matter what, and that can create a lot of pressure. But if Atlus lets Persona 6 develop naturally and independently instead of constantly comparing it to Persona 5, the game will probably be better for it.
Persona 5 is available now on PS3 and PS4.