The Persona franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. While Atlus plans to make some game announcements throughout the next few months, Persona 6 is unlikely to be amongst them. As spotted by Game Informer, a recruitment page used by the publisher is looking for developers to join the team as they prepare to begin creating a sequel that exceeds the expectations set by Persona 5.
Persona 5 sold over 3 million units worldwide; 600,000 of those were sold in Japan in less than a month after release. Persona 5 Royal recently reached a milestone of 1.8 million sales while its spinoff, Persona 5 Strikers, has now sold 1.5 million copies. Sales in North America, Europe, and Asia have exceeded the publisher’s expectations and this has created a sense of accomplishment amongst the team that they feel they need to exceed for Persona 6. Atlus’ director Naoto Hiraoka explains:
Thanks to a large amount of support we received for Persona 5, we have gotten a sense of accomplishment, but we can’t stop there. When we created Persona 4, there was the pressure that it had to exceed Persona 3. Now, we will have to create a 6 which exceeds 5. However, exceeding 5 will be difficult with the current staff. I would like to surpass this tall hurdle with everyone who joins us in this recruitment. The workplace is perfect for those who want a creative challenge when it comes to bringing games to the world.
Atlus Japan was split into two development teams, one tasked with handling the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and the other controlling development of the Persona franchise. The creation of a third team in 2016, Studio Zero, was for the purpose of developing new IPs. The majority of the new recruits will be joining this team, suggesting any development of Persona 6 is in its very early stages and we’re not likely to see the game anytime soon. The 25th anniversary announcements are due to begin in September, and we’ll let you know as soon as we get any news on those.
[Source: Green via GameInformer]
