The Persona series has been a staple in Atlus’s mainline games. With it becoming an inspiration for their new hit Metaphor: Refantazio. However, since Persona 4’s release back on the PS2 in 2008, Persona has been soaring higher and higher with, almost, every installment. With that being said, let’s hop into it and see how great the series has performed.
What is Persona?
For those of you who haven’t touched or played a Persona game, it’s an Action JRPG and Social Simulator in which you play as a character who is seemingly saving the world. You play as the Main Character. Just like how each game is set in different locations with different worlds, they have their own main characters. As you run around in the world until you come across a supernatural world, depending on the game you play it will be called numerous things, Tartarus in Persona 3, TV World in Persona 4, or Mementos in Persona 5. Each has its own variation of exploration but they all have the same enemy, Shadows.
These Shadows take the form of myths and legends, ranging from gods and devils to angels and demons. All that can be obtained for the protagonist to use as Personas. While you aren’t in the supernatural version of the world you are attending school, maintaining a life balance as a high schooler who showed up in the middle of the final year of their 2nd year. You interact with friends to deepen confidants that represent by Tarot Cards, building friendships and eventually lovers if you so desire, each having their own backstory, trauma, and/or obstacles for them to overcome. While it isn’t necessary to grow these bond, they help you unlock better and stronger personas.
Persona Breaks a Milestone
Persona is one of the most milked games that has come out, with Persona 3 getting 3 releases on PS2 and PSP, before its recent Reloaded release. Persona 4 has Golden, Q, and its re-releases on PC, and Persona 5 has Royal as well as, Scramble, Q sequel, and its re-release on PC. All three have their own rhythm game where you play as the characters and they dance to remixes of their own soundtrack. Persona 4 had a fighting game introduced that brought in several characters from other games. There is a P5 X mobile game that was Chinese only but is now getting a Japanese Beta to be released with a US talk.
However, this isn’t the major news, the series reached a staggering 23.5 million copies sold worldwide as of November 5th, for both digital and physical copies. Sega even states that Persona is one of their fastest-growing sales. Granted, it had multiple spin-offs supporting the original game but also breathed new life and even quality-of-life updates for the game itself. P5 series alone became top of the list at 10 million worldwide. P3R, which was anticipated with leaks and rumors of a remaster coming, sold 1 million units in the first week currently surpassed by Metaphor: Refantazio, which isn’t a Persona game itself but led by the director of Persona 4 and 5, isn’t slowing down anytime soon either.
Final Thoughts
This series has always been a staple of the JRPG genre although it was said to be a niche and a one-and-done, in the past. It is shown that it has a player base that loves and appreciates the series, as I personally, have hundreds of hours in P5 trying to get all the endings and interact with everyone. While their fans are waiting for the long overdue announcement of Persona 6, there is no stopping this series from going forward as it continues to grow.
