After a relatively slow start toPersona’s 25th anniversary, things are finally starting to pick up, and gamers can look forward to some noteworthy events. Most interestingly, Atlus announced that it will be releasing ports of threePersonagames, namelyPersona 3 Portable,Persona 4 Golden, andPersona 5 Royal. This is particularly good news for Xbox players who will finally get toplay mainlinePersonagames on Microsoft’s consoles. The first game to get the port treatment will bePersona 5 Royalwhich will be hitting PC and Xbox consoles in October.
The upcoming port provides the perfect opportunity for newcomers to finally experiencePersona, as thePersona 5port will come with over 40 DLCs, ensuring that gamers get the full experience.Persona 5is one of the best entries in the series, and it lends itself well to a possible film adaptation. With Sega already considering making film adaptations ofPersonagames, it should perhaps focus on turningPersona 5into a series of films, as it is the game that shows the most potential.
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Sega Takes Persona to Hollywood
Movie adaptations of video games, especially those of the live-action variety, have had a less than glamorous history littered with failed projects and box office bombs. Consequently, many have concluded that films are perhaps not the best medium to translate video games into. Recent video game movies have changed this perception, however, and film adaptations of video games in the last couple of years have, unexpectedly, managed to become hits. This includesUncharted, featuring Tom Holland who plays Nathan Drake, and Mark Wahlberg as Vic Sullivan, which was wildly successful, becoming the fifth-highest grossing video game film of all time. Similarly,Sonic the Hedgehogand its 2022 sequel have been record-breakers, with the sequel breaking the opening week record for video game adaptations.
Not being one to pass on a trend, Sega is still pursuing video game adaptations after its success withSonic the Hedgehog.Streets of Rage, which is a series of side-scrolling beat-em-ups, was introduced to the gaming world in 1991, and it has gathered quite a loyal fan base. Sega has announced that aStreets of Ragefilm adaptationis in production, and while not much is known about it yet, it has been revealed that it is being written byJohn Wick’s Derek Kolstad. A recent interview bySonic the Hedgehog’s producer, Toru Nakahara, revealed that Sega is deeply interested in making live-action adaptations of Atlus' popular franchises, includingCatherine,Shin Megami Tensei, and its spin-off,Persona. Sega has its eyes on these IPs because it has an opportunity to expand the lore of the games through movies.
Persona 5 Is the Most Popular Title
All thePersonagameswould make for good adaptations, especially due to their heavy reliance on psychoanalytical themes which make them ripe for multiple forms of interpretation and also allow them to be relatable to audiences around the world. By featuring archetypes and other Jungian themes, the games have found great popularity globally, and this is reflected in the astronomic sales the series has enjoyed. However, while the entire series has sold very well, it cannot be understated how much more successfulPersona 5has been compared to its predecessors.
As of 2021,Persona 5has sold over 5 million copies, with 1.8 million of those sales consisting ofPersona 5 Royalcopies. In 2021, Atlus also revealed that thePersonaseries has sold over 15 million copies, which is an impressive amount, and it means thatPersona 5makes up a third of the franchise’s total sales. In comparison, its predecessor,Persona 4 Golden, has sold 2.5 million copies, just half the sales thatPersona 5enjoys.
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Looking at series sales, it would perhaps be best forSega and Atlusto focus onPersona 5when deciding on movie adaptations, as it is the title that the public is most likely to recognize. With familiar faces gracing movie posters, people are far more likely to give the film a shot.Persona 5is also a good choice for adaptation because its themes are a little easier to unravel compared to its predecessors.
The Other Persona Games Are Harder to Adapt
In mostPersonagames, players live the life of a high schooler in Japan who finds themselves facing supernatural mysteries. There areslice-of-life elementsalong with turn-based battles involving Shadows and Personas. The games have incredibly long narratives, and when players spend so many hours with the characters, it is hard to not get to know them intimately. However, some characters are explored in such complex and intricate ways that it may be difficult to translate this to film with the same amount of care and nuance, especially when taking a film’s shorter playtime into account.
This is seen when comparingPersona 5’s themes and charactersto those ofPersona 4, for example. InPersona 4, players enter an alternate television dimension where they fight against the repressed elements of other people’s psyches to save them. This occurs, for example, with the superstar named Rise whose public persona is that of an idol. Eventually, this causes her great anxiety because she begins to doubt whether people love her for who she is or whether they love the sexualized persona she portrays. When she is sucked into the television dimension and players try to save her, they discover that her Shadow is a very sexualized, pole-dancing figure. However, rather than destroy this Shadow, Rise is supposed to come to terms with her Shadow, and it becomes her Persona which she has better control over.
The elements of her psyche at play are quite complex, involving an acknowledgment of how Rise has been sexually exploited as a celebrity, while still accepting how her sexuality is an intrinsic part of her. While it would be possible to illustrate Rise’s growth in a film, there are many opportunities to bungle it within a movie’s short length.Persona 5’s storiesand characters are also full of depth, but they lend themselves better to the film format, and characters like Morgana and Yusuke could be reasonably explored within the length of a film or a series of films.
The entirePersonaseries has great potential to be translated into successful live-action film adaptations, though there are many challenges it would need to overcome, including figuring out how to deal with the long length of the games. If Sega does go ahead with its idea of makingfilm adaptations of Atlus franchises, it should probably start withPersona 5, as it provides the best starting point for movie-makers, and it is also the most recognizable entry in its series.
Persona 5is available now on PS3 and PS4.
