Without a doubt, many Persona fans have been looking forward to this month. Not only does the franchise turn 25, but Persona 5 itself celebrates its fifth anniversary. That means there were a lot of directions Atlus could go with its anniversary announcement this month, even if there are a total of 7 announcements taking place between now and Fall 2022.
The first announcement took place this month, and fans were easily excited for what it could be ahead of time. Some fans thought it would be a proper Persona 6 announcement since Atlus mentioned it in on a recruiting page a few months ago, while others thought the announcement series would begin with something like a Persona 3 remake. The problem with this first announcement is that, as Persona grows and has grown over these 25 years, it’s not just a video game franchise anymore. And that, in turn, is where a lot of expectations got in the way.
Persona’s Anniversary Announcement
For Persona’s anniversary-related announcement this month, Atlus released a Japanese video featuring Morgana (seen above). He reveals he’ll be in all future anniversary videos and announces that all past Persona anime series shows, as well as the live stage adaptations of Persona 5, will be made available for streaming in Japan.
Morgana also confirms that there will be two live performances related to the Persona series, taking place on November 21 at the Tokyo Opera City Hall, while popular Persona 5 vocalist Lyn Inaizumi will be performing at the Tokyo Game Show this year. The video ends with encouraging fans to buy merch, announcing the series is now on sale in Japan, and confirming the next anniversary announcement takes place in December.
Persona’s Future Announcements
While the announcements are clearly centered on Japan this time around, it’s unlikely that all future announcements will be too. But, the problem is that fans were hoping for video games to a franchise that’s not just limited to video games. Persona 6, Persona 3 Remake, or a Persona 5 fighting game are all at the top of many fans’ wish lists for this series of announcements, but that still leaves four other announcements.
Hindsight’s 20/20 and now it almost seems obvious that not every announcement was going to be video game-related. It would make more sense for Persona 6 to fall as the last announcement, while any other video games could be sparsed throughout. Of course, it would have made as much sense to at least open with something video game-related, but Persona fans shouldn’t fret—the Persona anniversary event still has a lot more up its sleeve.
Persona 6 is reportedly in development.