Though Atlus has yet to officially confirm that Persona 6 is in development, there’s very little doubt in the minds of most people that work on the series’ next instalment is indeed underway, with leaks even claiming that it will launch sometime in 2025. Whenever it does launch, though, Atlus’ parent company Sega believes the series has the potential to see much more impressive sales under the current circumstances.
In a recent Q&A with investors, Sega said it believes that a new numbered entry in the Persona series could even sell as much as 5 million units in its first year, which would be made possible by a multiplatform and simultaneous global release.
“By increasing the number of platforms it is available on and the regions it is released in, we have been increasing the sales of Persona 5,” the company said (translation via Persona Central). “We believe that it would be possible for a major Persona title, such as a numbered release, to sell 5 million copies in its first year by releasing it on multiple platforms and simultaneously worldwide from day one.”
The company also added that it has “high expectations” from Atlus’ upcoming Metaphor: ReFantazio, which is being developed by a new team led by former creative leads for the Persona series. Atlus has previously said it’s positioning the upcoming RPG as “a third pillar” for the company alongside Persona and Shin Megami Tensei.
Though there have been conflicting reports over recent months about whether Persona 6 will or won’t be exclusive to PlayStation as past major Persona releases have been in the past, this quote would certainly suggest that it won’t be.
Of course, the Persona series has enjoyed healthy sales as it is in recent years – for instance, earlier this year, it was confirmed that Persona 5 and its spinoffs had collectively sold over 9 million units – though it wouldn’t be surprising to see a growth in sales for the series once it does start getting multiplatform, simultaneous global releases for its mainline titles.
While it remains to be seen how long it’ll be before the next mainline Persona game releases, series fans do still have plenty to look forward to, with Persona 5 Tactica out imminently, and Persona 3 Reload launching in February. Unlike past entries in the series, both games are launching worldwide simultaneously as multiplatform titles, so it should be interesting to see how they perform from a commercial perspective.
