Persona’s 25th Anniversary is currently underway but previously, the series’ developer Atlus teased a whopping seven projects that would release during the year-long celebration. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they will all be games, however. The first project was Atlus making all Persona anime series available for streaming and the second is a Persona orchestral concert. There’s reason to believe more of the seven projects won’t be games, but there’s still reason to believe a Persona 5 Arena game could be in development.
RELATED: Why Persona’s First 25th Anniversary Announcement Isn’t What Fans Expected
The Success of Persona 4 Arena and Persona 5
Persona 4 Arena currently holds an impressive 86 aggregate review score on Metacritic while its sequel, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, holds an 85. Even though it’s not the title’s main gameplay function, Persona 4 Arena was noted for its entertaining main story. Furthermore, critics found the fighting game to be well-suited for both veterans of Persona, with the way it threaded in gameplay elements from Persona 4, to newcomers with an easy-to-use combat system with a distinctive style. On the whole, both the original Persona 4 Arena and its sequel were highly successful, meaning Atlus and possibly Arc System Works could implement the same strong formula for a Persona 5 fighting title.
Not only are their review scores substantial, but there’s plenty more reason why a Persona 5 fighting game would be unprecedented giving the base game and Royal’s rampant success. For one, fans would love to see Joker, Morgana, Kasumi, and the rest of the Persona 5 cast get their own unique moves and combos. It would build on Persona 5’s lore just as the hack-and-slash spinoff Strikers did, as well. What’s even better, however, is that it’s actually possible that Persona 5 could see an Arena-style spinoff in the future, possibly even for the 25th Anniversary.
Why A Persona 5 Arena Game Is Possible
Persona 4 Arena’s great reputation is a strong motive to make another one-on-one Persona fighting game, but there’s also evidence to suggest this might be the case. Earlier this year, Atlus renewed and registered several domains related to various Persona IP games. Back in 2017 and 2018, fans used these domains to see hints toward Persona Q2 (under the domain PQ2.jp), Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (Persona-Dance.jp), and Persona 5 Royal (P5R.jp).
Prior to Persona 4 Arena’s announcement, the domain P4U.jp was registered for it (because the title is known as Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena in Japan but was shortened for localization). Interestingly, the domain P5U.jp was renewed its year, lending fans to believe that a Persona 5 Arena game has been in the works. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s certain and not all Persona-related domains have come to fruition, but Atlus has already heavily capitalized on P5’s popularity by adding Joker to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Morgana to Monkey Ball, so it would be a profitable leap to release another one-versus-one 2D fighting game. It would be even better to see them fighting against Persona 3 and 4’s most titular characters as well.
While the first two Persona 25th Anniversary reveals didn’t turn out to be upcoming game titles, anniversaries are the perfect time to announce big projects. And with Persona being one of the biggest JRPG franchises out there alongside Final Fantasy, it’s likely that Atlus has at least one major thing planned for the silver anniversary.
Persona 4 Arena is available on PS3 and Xbox 360. MORE: Why a Persona 5 Fighting Game Makes Sense
