With the increasing popularity of the Persona franchise and the release of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden across multiple platforms, the prospect of a new spinoff is more plausible now than ever. With the last crossover-based Persona spinoff having been released in 2018, the franchise might be due for another one soon.
The Persona series, backed by its origins under the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, is known most for its social simulation gameplay coupled with strategic, turn-based combat. Its core features have the player oscillate between exploring enemy-filled dungeons and experiencing life as a high schooler as you strengthen your bonds with surrounding characters through deep talks and everyday activities. While its traditional formula has been met with resounding praise, it hasn't stopped the franchise from delving into the world of spinoff titles.
A Clash of Persona Casts
Gliding on the success of its main entries, Atlus' foray into the Persona offshoots have demonstrated a wide array of approach in both genre and mechanics. From fighting games to rhythm games, the Persona titles and its characters have been seen in a number of contexts: brawling, dancing, and slashing their way to victory. The biggest allure of these spinoffs, and perhaps the reason why Persona fans are most drawn to them despite the change in genre, has been their emphasis on bringing the beloved characters from the series' main entries back for more adventures. This is made all the more exciting when some spinoff titles, including the Persona Q and Persona 4 Arena series, make use of 'crossovers' in their narratives, combining the casts of the mainline entries in new and inventive ways.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth banded its Persona 3 and Persona 4 casts together in its first shadow-slaying adventure developed for the handheld 3DS system. Persona Q's joined cast of characters meant not only a wider range of strategies to utilize in combat, but also the opportunity for the game to emphasize its strengths as a social simulator. With its cute chibi art style and endearing dialogue, players could see their favorite characters interact with one another from across the Persona 3 and 4 entries through wholesome banter, playing off their shared personalities and archetypes.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, which released on the tail end of manufacturing for 3DS games, ended up following suit with its increasingly inclusive cast. Adding the Persona 5 team to the mix, as well as the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable, the crossover appealed to both old and new fans of the series through its addition of the ever-popular Phantom Thieves. Persona 4 Arena on the other hand, a spinoff of Persona's fourth mainline entry, focused mainly on its respective mainline cast in its all-out fighting game experience, though it did offer cameos from a few of Persona 3's S.E.E.S. Team, including the characters of Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, and Aigis.
The game's roster opened up exponentially through its successor Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, which then included the rest of Persona 3's supporting cast (with the exception of Shinji). Unlike Persona Q, the Persona 4 Arena games put a spin on its crossover by aging up the Persona 3 cast, giving its characters new designs and backstories following the events of the original game. Arena Ultimax received a digital port for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam just last year, making it accessible to an even wider audience than before.
Looking to Future Crossovers
Given that 2022, which was Persona's 25th anniversary, focused mainly on ports of older titles, it's quite likely that Atlus might be gearing up for a new Persona-based release or announcement sometime this year. With the Persona series' newly found stretch in accessibility, this could be the perfect time for another crossover spinoff that brings the casts of the P3P and P4G games back together. Some fans have speculated that the ports might be hinting towards a new Persona Arena game in the works, a guess that could be further backed up by Arena Ultimax being brought to modern platforms.
A new Persona Arena game would certainly be a logical next step for the series, and might even take notes from Persona Q2 by throwing the Persona 5 cast into the mix. Moreover, it would give Atlus the chance to reintroduce the Persona 4 cast in a grown-up light, much like Arena Ultimax did with its Persona 3 characters. Seeing the casts back in the fighting game limelight could prove to be a beneficial move from Atlus, allowing them to work from Ultimax's framework while making use of the resurgence in popularity of P3 and P4's characters.
Overall, the ports of P3P and P4G enable Atlus to go in quite a few directions, given the company doesn't have to worry as much about bringing newer fans up to speed on characters from previous titles. Because of this, Atlus has an even wider breadth of spinoff games that it can tackle. While it's unlikely that a new PQ will release in the near future, as its second installment already dabbled in a three-game crossover, there could be a crossover between their characters in another context altogether. Additionally, because Atlus chose to port Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden instead of their original Persona 3 and Persona 4 counterparts, it can make use of characters exclusive to these versions, much like how the aforementioned P3P female protagonist was featured in PQ2, or how Marie was included in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.
There's even a chance that Atlus might work with something similar to Persona 5 Strikers, utilizing the hack-and-slash approach with its P3 and P4 cast. The musou game's combat, much like in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, certainly lends itself to having a large character selection, which would work particularly well as a Persona crossover. Whatever the case, the increased accessibility of P3P and P4G among the fanbase, coupled with the series' in-between period of mainline entries, point towards the release of a new crossover spinoff title soon. Whether Atlus decides to work from a previous spinoff or introduce a new one altogether, it's likely that Persona fans haven't seen the last of the P3P and P4G crew.