Gaming franchises and television adaptations have often gone hand-in-hand with plenty of animated cartoons, Japanese anime, or even live-action TV shows based on popular games or series. Major gaming properties like Halo and The Witcher have received TV show adaptations in recent years. League of Legends animated series Arcane was one of the most popular shows on Netflix during its November 2021 debut. Now, a recent interview from Sega has revealed that the gaming juggernaut may be eyeing several Atlus franchises to get the TV and movie treatment.
Sega bringing Atlus properties to a television or movie setting would be far from the first time the developer has adapted its franchises for other media. Sega's recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies have proven successful at the box office with each earning over $300 million and $400 million respectively. Sega also recently revealed a Streets of Rage movie is in production with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad leading the project. Now, Sega is looking at the potential of live-action adaptations for multiple Atlus franchises including Persona and Catherine.
A recent interview from Sonic the Hedgehog movie producer Toru Nakahara revealed Sega is considering live-action versions of popular Atlus titles like Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Catherine. Nakahara spoke about Atlus' worlds and characters as being ripe for further exploration, saying that Sega sees an "opportunity to expand the lore" beyond the original games. Nakahara did not elaborate on any projects currently in production or potential studios for the live-action adaptations, simply confirming the company is exploring its options.
While Sega surprised fans with its consideration of a live-action Persona, the potential TV show would not be the first time Persona has made its way into TV and movies. Every main-series Persona game since Persona 3 has received an anime adaptation between Persona 3's four movie adaptation and Persona 4 and 5 both getting TV anime series. Persona 4: The Animation also later received a second season with Persona 4: The Golden Animation adapting some of the new content in the enhanced remake, Persona 4 Golden.
Live-action Persona projects would come as just the newest addition to a franchise that is filled with spinoffs of Persona 4 and Persona 5. The franchise has seen multiple fighting games with the Arena games, a Warriors-style game, dungeon crawlers, and even rhythm games like Persona 4 Dancing All Night. Persona 5 also received its own slot machine in Japanese casinos earlier this year. A live-action Persona TV show or movie would add another entry to the franchise's expansive library of diverse experiences.
Source: IGN