When Atlus USA was asked in December 2008 about their plans for the Persona series in 2009, they ignored Siliconera‘s question, but indirectly hint they’ll continue publishing PS2 games. To quote Atlus’ Aram Jabbari: “*glances at the clock* Oh gosh, look at the time, we’ve really gotta skiddoo. *pushes the production staff toward the door* Thanks again, Spencer, always fun gabbin’ with you! Take care now. All the best!”
So while they choose to avoid such questions, in a more productive recent Play Magazine interview with Atlus Japan’s Katsura Hashino — the Director & Producer on Persona 4 — answered questions about Persona 5 and the series as a whole…
Question: P4 takes place two years after P3, and the anime Persona Trinity Soul ten years later. Will you stay with a cohesive world and timeline for the Persona series from now on?
Answer: “I don’t have any really strong feelings about it. As far as future titles, there are no plans at this point.”
Question: Can we expect a FES-like P4 expansion?
Answer: “We have no plans for that at this time.”
Question: We have to ask: Persona 5, next gen?
Answer: “Nothing’s set in stone. We are currently looking into many different things.”
In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Persona 5 is more likely to be coming to PS2 than PS3 if it gets released in the near-future (Persona 4 took only 17 months to develop). Why? Because Persona 4 has sold almost half a million copies worldwide (480,000+) since its PS2-exclusive release, making it the best-selling game in the Megami Tensei series so far. Good news for any developer, let alone one who makes as many niche titles as Atlus does.
Update August 2009: Atlus employee Shoji Meguro gave a “Creator Interview” on the Japanese PlayStation website. What’s interesting is that Sony’s cell phone website lists him as the producer on Persona 5! To top this off, a recent Pachinko report listed Person 5 as a PS3 title. Could be accidental mistakes, but I don’t believe in this many coincidences.