2020 has seen a couple pretty big hits in gaming, spanning the breadth of genres fromAnimal Crossing: New HorizonstoDoom Eternal.However, the latest entry in thePersonafranchise can’t be discounted as another important, successful game of 2020 even though it’s an expanded edition of a four year old game.Persona 5 Royalknocked sales out of the park, getting a lot of attention even afterPersona 5was a great success already. It’s an exciting time for thePersonafranchise and its fans. The series is well set up to move on to an entry for the PS5, where it’ll be welcomed with open arms.
Persona 6could easily still be a long ways off. Atlus is still gettingPersona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikersready for an international release after it got a warm reception in Japan and fans across the world expressed their desire to play the game too.IfPersona 6is already in planning or development, Atlus has a lot to consider about how to keep the series a global success. Although the games themselves have a strong formula that fans love, the development process might be liable to change. Now that Atlus knowsPersonahas more support than ever before, it might let a PS5 title change one of the series' most controversial hallmarks: the slow release schedule.
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Breaking Tradition
Atlus has a habit of releasing thePersonagames in Japan at least a few months before they go global – sometimes it’s taken up to a year for aPersonagame to spread its wings. It’s a slow and steady way to test the game, getting some reception before the game is made available for a bigger market. However, outside Japan, the tradition is sometimes annoysPersonafans.Persona 5 Scrambleis a good example of the issue. Even though fans clamored for an international release, Atlus didn’t seem to trust that it would perform well outside Japan. Only recently did it announcethatPersona 5 Scramblewill be availableeverywhere soon.
Considering the fame and success thatPersonahas now, though,Scramblemight be the lastPersonatitle that Atlus hesitates to release in other countries.IfPersona 6gets announced for PS5but its release outside Japan is intentionally delayed, there might be a fair amount of backlash from frustrated fans that are excited and eager to get into anotherPersonagame. With some serious popularity to maintain, the odds are good that Atlus pushes itself to havePersona 6ready for international release. That makes any future hints ofPersonaannouncements really worth watching for.
Changing Opinions
There’s a piece of significant evidence that Atlus is more confident in these games. The company recently announced thatShin Megami Tensei 5,the next entry in the franchise that birthedPersona,will get a simultaneous worldwide release in 2021. Just likePersona,theShin Megami Tenseigames tend to be rolled out in Japan, North America, and Europe in varying stages rather than simultaneously. That shows Atlus understands that there’s more than enough demand outside Japan for these games and wants to satisfy that market.
It’s surely not about to show up as a surprise release title, but someday,Persona 6is bound to be a major addition to the PS5 later in the console’s life. The series has never been a bigger deal; fans will be ready to welcome it back. The question isn’t whether there’ll be a market for it, but what lengths Altus goes to in order to acknowledge the players' enthusiasm. Hopefully, it’ll go along with the increasingly confident stance it seems to be taking on these games.Shin Megami Tenseimight bea pretty different experience from aPersonagame, but maybe this sister series' new and remastered titles will appease fans untilPersona 6is finally ready for a big reveal.
