Atlus is about to fill 2012 with so much Persona 4 that ignoring the fan-favourite JRPG is going to be impossible. Johnny Cullen takes a look at the continued adventures of Chie and friends.
The ulterior motive is obvious: to prepare for the announcement of Persona 5. Atlus has heavily suggested the reveal will be this year. Team Persona may have been busy with Catherine recently, but it was confirmed a fifth game was being made in May 2010, with a further report in August last year saying efforts were increasing on the title and a new engine is being used.
It’s doubtful Atlus expected the success enjoyed by Persona 4. The quirky JRPG – which sees students navigating a game world of crossover reality and fantasy – sold heavily over expectation in Japan on PS2 after it released in 2008, with its break-out performance forming a platform for re-releases of Personas 1, 2 and 3 on PSP. The series’s fourth game – which made Persona a fashionable mainstay among western hobbyists – is now readying a re-emergence on Vita.
The Persona series has now sold more than 1.65 million copies in Japan alone. It’s Atlus’s biggest property.
Atlus is set to go big on the P4 remake this year, and is planning to surround the new release with a swell of other promotions, from a fighting game to a live stage show. The icing on the cake is a potential announcement of a full fifth game in 2012.
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