Now with the definitive Persona 5 Royal out in the world, there’s almost certainly a sixth game on the horizon, as Atlus seemingly teased its existence just recently. With this newfound popularity, Persona should move to a simultaneous worldwide release for its next title. Both Persona 4 and Persona 5 have proven enough that the series’ popularity has evolved around the world, especially in western audiences like the US. It only makes sense now that fans around the world should share in the joy of Persona at the same time.

RELATED: Atlus Teased Persona 6 at New Game Plus Expo, Claims Rumor

Persona’s Explosion in Popularity

Such explosive popularity for Persona realistically began with Persona 3 and Persona 4, but truly came to a head with Persona 5. The fifth Persona game was meant to be both a 20th anniversary celebration as well as an evolution for the series. It had been about eight years since Persona 4’s release, and Persona 5 came out to near universal acclaim. Everything great about the Persona series, like the social links/relationships, strategic turn-based combat, and JRPG dungeon crawling was honed and improved with the Phantom Thieves. Persona 5 (and Persona 5 Royal) has solidified itself as not only the highest selling Persona game, but the greatest selling game from the whole Megami Tensei franchise.

Persona 5, at least in the west, also received a very important boost from an unlikely ally, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which added the protagonist of Persona 5, Joker, as a playable fighter. SSBU’s game director, Masahiro Sakurai, was particularly enthralled by Persona 5 that he had specifically requested a collaboration which lead to Joker joining Smash Bros. Ultimate’s roster. The Super Smash Bros. series had done something similar with its own Fire Emblem franchise in Super Smash Bros. Melee when Marth and Roy were added to the roster. Marth and Roy served as an indirect gauge for Fire Emblem’s popularity in western audiences, which eventually lead to Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade releasing for North America on the Game Boy Advance.

RELATED: Video Game Franchises That Deserve Big Budget Film Adaptations

Future Persona Releases

Thanks to this huge boost in popularity, Atlus should consider a simultaneous worldwide release for the next Persona entry. Every single Persona game has released in Japan first, and was eventually localized to western markets later on. Especially now, with Persona 5 Royal reaching “record” sales numbers in the US and Europe, it only makes sense for future Persona titles to have a simultaneous worldwide release. Considering the series’ global popularity and Atlus recognizing that with fan feedback surveys, it’d be perfect for Persona’s accessibility to the world, along with some exterior affects like dodging spoilers and problems with inadvertent exclusivity.

Plenty of other JRPGs and other genres of games have followed this trend of simultaneous worldwide releases over time. Fans of the Kingdom Hearts series were big proponents of a simultaneous worldwide release in the lead up to Kingdom Hearts 3, especially considering most fans had been waiting over a decade for the third entry. A similar situation occurred with Fire Emblem over time as Nintendo’s signature strategy game series steadily grew in popularity in western markets. Now Persona is seeing a similar apex of popularity with Persona 5 Royal, meaning it should be time for the team at Atlus to consider a western release as pivotal to the fanbase.

Here’s to hoping in the future Persona games have simultaneous worldwide releases in the future. Fans are especially sensitive to spoilers, and when there’s literally months of time between the Japanese and North American release dates, avoiding spoilers is even harder. Plus it eliminates the problem of some players taking some nefarious methods like spoofing Japanese accounts to get the game early.

Persona 5 Royal is available now for PS4.

MORE: Persona 5 Royal: Every Playable Character, Ranked