The actions and trends of the Internet are arcane at the best of times, but things start to get really baffling when there's a highly-anticipated game on the horizon. Whether it's a ten-second clip from a developer showcase, a hot take from an industry insider, or an excitable and impassioned fanbase, things have a way of snowballing once they end up on social media.
Twitter managed to demonstrate that succinctly today when, in the early hours of the morning, mentions of Persona 6 suddenly started to pick up. Excited fans noticed the trend and, thinking that some huge announcement had just dropped, started asking questions about Persona 6 which, in turn, fueled the game's trending status. Within a couple of hours, the social media network was full of confused fans asking why the game was trending and contributing to the very algorithm in question.
The origins of the Persona 6 spike is as yet unclear, though one possible source could be Twitter user CallMeVid. They decided to call on their followers to "take [their] last picture of a group of multiple characters and caption it PERSONA 6," as a joke cast announcement for the game. The gag appears to have spiraled somewhat, garnering hundreds of replies and almost a thousand quote-tweets at the time of writing. Alternatively, it could have something to do with the release earlier this month of Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne HD Remaster, an Atlus game arguably buoyed by the success of the Persona series.
One thing's for sure: wherever this particular trend did start, it wasn't with Persona developer Atlus, which has mostly been focused on tweeting about Shin Megami Tensei 3 for the last few days. It would seem that the provenance of this spike in mentions lies squarely with the fans, and not for the first time: just a few months ago, they managed to get the joke hashtag #persona5racing trending on Twitter, along with previous successes like #personaisoverparty and #GoodbyeGoro.
Many fans have likened today's surprising but ultimately fruitless Persona 6 "news" to the similar waves of baseless excitement surrounding any mention of titles like Grand Theft Auto 6 and The Elder Scrolls 6. It's not clear what exactly it is about the sixth instalments of beloved series that brings this out in fans, but they are clearly hungry for any tiny bit of information about these hotly-anticipated games.
They're going to have to wait a while, though: although Persona 6 is almost certainly in early development over at Atlus, it's still likely to be some time, possibly years, before the ravenous fanbase can pick up a copy and get sucked into it. Even those hoping for a surprise announcement at E3 this year may well be disappointed, but should take heart from the knowledge that the developers are likely taking a great amount of care in creating the next sequel to the popular series.
Persona 6 has yet to be announced.