Persona 6 has the potential to become the biggest JRPG game of this generation, even bigger than FF16.

Just looking at the Trajectory of this franchise...its by FAR the biggest growing JRPG of the last 15 years. Persona 3 barely sold half a million global, Persona 4 did 4-5 times more with Golden sales and Steam sales...5 has sold nearly 5 million with P5 and Royal sales combined. IF this game comes to PC switch xbox you can had millions more to it.

Theres no other JRPG franchise that has grown in popularity % wise than Persona. Games like FF were always huge but FF15 was gutter trash that sort of sank the franchise. I'm hoping Persona 6 is a multiplat. With FF16 being a PS5 exclusive for 6-12 months Persona can come out and completely overshadow this overrated overhyped nonsense of a franchise.

DQXI also done well. But Persona 5 has outsold it outside Japan by some distance.

I mean... hearts and minds maybe but it’s not gonna do more numbers than FF16 will.

Every mainline Persona game so far has launched exclusively on PlayStation, and only one of them (P4) has come out anywhere but. I would say the chances of a theoretical P6 coming to Switch/Xbox is a pipe dream at best, and if it does come to PC it will be at least a year after the fact.

The series has definitely caught on among a wider gaming audience since 3, but it's also worth noting how wildly the audience for less mainstream JRPGs grew between each Persona release, especially 4 to 5, given the 8-year gap. I'm sure a theoretical Persona 6 will do great when it comes out, but the odds of it beating out a new entry in one of the most established JRPG series out there (especially one written by a team that's actually proven itself, being staffed with a number of major names from the popular-as-all-hell FF14 reboot) seem slim to me.

I'm gonna used a very different analogy that also plays a similar tone: if Dolce & Gabbana can still stay relevant in today's fashion globe, why can't Square? In today's JRPGs, if you want to overtake Square, you have to be Square.

If Nintendo and Square could get together and tag team on a new Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, I think that'd do some monster numbers.

Unfortunately, I don't see either Persona or Final Fantasy doing Pokemon numbers if we're talking about the biggest JRPG.

I also don't see any of these games growing significantly in fan base either. I think they've all peaked, barring some drastic shift in gaming. Persona saw a significant boost from 4 to 5 largely due to 4 being a very good game, in a niche community, being spread by word of mouth by very passionate fans telling everyone they can "You have to play Persona" for the ten years in between games. I do not see that same support behind Persona 5. I don't think there are huge number of people left out there, who would be willing to play a JRPG, but haven't heard of Persona. So I don't see it bringing in many new fans. Maybe if they do a Switch game, it'll sell some more in Japan. That's really the only thing I could see boosting sales at all.

Also, considering they took a decade to make the last game, I wouldn't take any bets on whether a Persona 6 even comes out on this generation of consoles. Or, that giving the state of the world and the industry, that Sega is even around to put it out. Maybe they do finally get bought by Microsoft, and you wind up with Persona exclusive to Xbox. They certainly won't see an increase of sale in that situation.

Just because you didn't like FF15, doesn't make it "Trash". It still outsold Persona 5 by a magnitude of 2, so it can't be that bad.

Look, I get it, Persona is interesting and does things that the early FF games did that made them so good. But if you think Persona is outselling Final Fantasy, you're nuts tbh

@franzlska: We just have to wait for the inevitable Microsoft acquisition of Atlus which will shift all future titles to release exclusively on Xbox and PC but only on the Windows Store

@humanity: I think even If MS bought Sega. They'd still out out persona on playststion. That makes more sense than bethesda.

Either way to the guy who said ff15 outsold p5 by factor of 2. Ff12 outsold persona 3 by a factor of 20. What is your point? Persona is an ever growing franchise. Ff is going down the pan. It relies heavily on nostalgic remakes now and an MMO.

@haz_kaj: A very popular MMO, a very popular recent remake, and from what I can tell a bunch enthusiasm for FF16 and the team working on it. Right now you are letting a personal distaste for the state of Final Fantasy get in the way of the actual reality of its popularity still.

Like don't get it twisted I Love Persona, I think from a quality standpoint it deserves to stand up there with the giants. But it doesn't yet and a Persona 6 probably won't shift that.

You’re kinda stuck in a fanboy mindset. MS vs Sony, now Persona vs FF. FF isn’t overrated, it’s one of the most iconic series in gaming. Persona is great but the shadow of FF will cast on the genre for eternity. It’s made it’s mark several times over. Persona 3 is still peak persona and the only one that matters. 🤣

What I’m trying to say is, like what you like. As gamers, there really isn’t a loser here. Are you really gonna feel good if FF16 doesn’t do as well as P6? Why? Who gives a shit. Sales don’t matter to me personally. Great games don’t sell all the time. Shit games sell well all the time. It doesn’t mean anything when we are talking about the content of the experiences.

By all accounts P5 Is much better than FF15. Isn’t that enough?

tbf joker would say that. gotta protect the business.

You can't really extrapolate growth like that. I mean, FF6 sold 3.5 million and FF 7 sold 10 million. You might think that FF8 would sell 17 million, but it actually sold 8 million. They would probably sell more if they released on PC, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything for Persona 6. Growth doesn't constantly go up like that.

and Persona relies heavily on dancing games and musous. Whats your point? And how is FF "going down the pan"? Because people also like Persona games?

Just give me the PC port of Persona 4 golden on switch / consoles and I'll be happy

Persona 6 doesn't have to outsell FFXVI for you to talk about how and why Persona is better. Just say that. You don't need this (extremely unlikely) hypothetical sales scenario to validate what you feel.

Also FFXV PREsold over 5 million copies. Persona as a franchise is barely topping 13 million. Sorry OP, but by any measure (sales number, subjective quality opinions, etc.), I don't think this is an argument youre going to win

I just don't see that happening. I, and many others I have encountered, stopped Persona 5 for one reason: Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk. I get that some people love story focused games. I can't stand sitting there for 20 minutes reading dialogue, I came to play a game. Final Fantasy strikes a much better balance between narrative and action. Even FF14(Just tried the free content) seemed to keep everything flowing nicely. I hope you don't think I'm trying to crap on you or anything its just I truly believe that Persona is too dialogue focused to ever see that much limelight. Love that killer P5 soundtrack though. Still listening to it actually lol.

I mean this is all subjective. Sales and popularity isn't. I'm talking about how these franchises have developed over the past 15 years

I don't need to tell people Persona 5 is better. Thats just my opinion. But lets use a Metric...say a Review System like MetaCritic or OpenCritic....yeah. Persona absolutely embarrasses FF in that regard. Theres no single FF game that has higher review average than Persona 5 Royal. So we don't even need to talk about the Critical Acclaim of these games.

Royal has like A Couple points on metacritic higher than the closest FF and like.. what is this supposed to prove what are we doing?

Maybe instead of all this nonsense thread and wasting so much effort trying to tear down FF in favor of Persona, you could just write a nice post talking about why you like Persona? I like it a lot too, for many reasons, and Final Fantasy has nothing to do with it. The last thing I'm thinking about when playing and enjoying Persona is Final Fantasy, and the fact that other people like Final Fantasy and it sells well does not impact my enjoyment of Persona at all.

It is possible to like something without having to tear down something else that other people may like.

Ff15 deserves to be teared down

@haz_kaj: Why?

I've played every mainline FF and Persona game and am in agreement that FF15 is a bad game but what a bizarrely hateful thread this is. As others have said, it's totally alright to think one game/franchise is better than some other without needing the other to fail.

Spend your energy on something else friend, it'll probably do you a lot of good.

No, JRPG's or Japanese games in general skew very heavily towards Playstation platforms Final Fantasy 15 had 70% of its sales on Playstation, just making Persona multiplatform would not double its numbers. Persona is also far more anime which is marmite for a lot folks. The popularity gap between both franchises is pretty big Persona 5 3m and Final Fantasy 15 9m.

@spacemanspiff00: 20 minutes of dialogue in a Persona game? We play the same games? It's more like an hour or more sometimes! lol

Won't beat a dead horse over the silliness of this thread, but will say, the Persona games are ones I love but they are FAR from perfect and acting like they are and FF15 is purely hot garbage is bordering on some weird fanboy crud. But, considering the OP's most recent other thread it isn't really surprising.

I agree with the underlining sentiment that the FF series is overrated and can suck it, but it still sells a lot, in no small part to being multi platform. Persona could get better numbers by coming out on Xbox and pc (it'd get me to buy it) but it doesn't have the cache the FF franchise has. At least yet.

If you feel so strongly, have you considered channeling your energy into a critique of Final Fantasy XV? There is value in in-depth criticism and game critique. I don't know that you're achieving much with the type of combative side taking focused on pithy negative comments rather than actual discussion and critique. It's easy to be dismissive with an "I know better" type of tone, but there's a lot more value in having actual critical discourse.

I mean, I like Persona 4 and 5 more than the majority of mainline Final Fantasy games.

But...

Surely FFVII Remake would make for a more meaningful comparison for such pointless speculation? I mean, they're both highly rated and on the same platform?

In any case, given the questionable nature of the data sources I'm not entirely sure drawing conclusions is any more wise than it is interesting. (To make any kind of meaningful comparison we'd need like for like reliable data)

Persona 5 is a big step down from Persona 4, which itself wasn't quite as good as Persona 3. And don't even get me started on how good Persona 2 is. Why, if this trend continues, Persona 6 won't be as good as Final Fantasy 13 let alone Final Fantasy 15!

isn't that persona team doing something new next? so a persona 6 will likely be far far away (especially with covid delaying game development)

if anything, the FF7 remake series of games are well positioned to be the biggest JRPG series of this generation.

I just can't bring myself to buy / care about yet another Japanese game about high school kids, boring turn-based battles that haven't changed much in 30 years, or the time management aspect. And then there's the casual homophobia and transphobia that pops up now and again that's just ugly. And that was my experience with P3. From what I've heard P4 and P5 doubled down on those aspect so I'll stick with FF, thanks. I'll take their more experimental approach to their main franchise any day, warts and all.

The reasons above severely limits the Persona series' mass appeal. I wonder how many anime fans were taken in by the nice presentation of P5 but couldn't get through that slow beginning.

Love that these threads always feature a decent conversation despite the fanboyish tone of the OP.

Seriously, leave the bullshit '80s Corporate Handbook "in order to succeed, someone else MUST fail" and just enjoy Persona and leave Final Fantasy to doing whatever they're gonna do. I think Persona games have only gotten better since 3 to 4 to 5, but that doesn't mean I have to hate something else in equal measure. And neither do you.

I think Persona really needs to change up its game. I love, love, LOVE Persona 4. It's easily the best Rpg of the ps2 generation, and Persona 4 Golden is pretty much the sole reason why anyone would currently buy a Vita (besides modding of course).

But I was left really cold by Persona 5. I admire what it tries to do as its story deals with the generational gap between kids and boomers, but I really thought it was let down by the writing, the dub (especially in comparison to P4's phenomenally acted dub), and the more anime aspects of the game rubbing up uncomfortably with some of the game's more serious moments. Whereas I felt like Persona 4's Twin Peak esque murder mystery was instantly compelling, I couldnt' reallly care about what the characters of Persona 5 were going through.

But I would love to see a radically different style for Persona 6.

All of the people playing Persona games, are more than likely going to play a new Final Fantasy. But a lot of the people playing the new Final Fantasy game, don’t know what Persona is.

Persona is still a niche series. If you like JRPGs, then you’re probably into Persona, but if you hate high school dramas then you probably won’t dig Persona. Where as Final Fantasy is a gaming staple. Even when it’s bad, or fans don’t dig the themes of a specific one of those, they still play it.

I know a guy that loved Persona 4, but hated 5, and is now on a wait for reviews of 6 policy. He gets every Final Fantasy, and I don’t think he’s liked a single one since 9. Now this is just conjecture on my part, but I don’t think Persona will ever reach Final Fantasy’s level of fandom. Not to say one is better than the other, just that there’s a legacy associated with one that will always make it people’s go to JRPG.

I love Persona 5. Persona 4 is depending on the day, my favorite game of all time. I also love Final Fantasy and FFXV is in my top three of that franchise. You can like both, you can like neither, you can like one or the other. You really don't need to stack them up against each other and try and shit on one for... reasons?

If I have to choose between FF16 and Persona 6. I'm choosing FF16.

@ungodly:

but I don’t think Persona will ever reach Final Fantasy’s level of fandom

I can agree with this. As popular as P4 and P5 are, they still are fairly niche JRPGS that are more for veterans of the genre than newbies.

Sure you can like both franchies but, my issues with P5 notwithstanding, I think the Persona games, and the Shin Megami Tensei Games in general, are far stronger titles than FF because of their darker themes and willingness to subvert JRPG tropes. Final Fantasy has been kind of on a downward slope for years as SE had decided to focus solely on aesthetics rather than content. I know some people like FFXV so don't take it personally when I say--I think it's shit and indicative of downward trajectory Square Enix has taken since Advent Children: Games with high production value but are so utterly committed to appealing solely to 13 year old edge lords. XV looks great, but it's not that hard to look beneath the surface and recognize there's nothing there. VII-Remake is fine, but largely due to being based on an influential game (and I've said my peace on that games divergences and what I think it means for that series in general).

I'm hoping that FF16 gives Final Fantasy a much needed boost. I mean, you don't get the guy responsible for one of the best underdog stories in the industry to simply make a standard JRPG, right?

I've heard FFXV being described in all kinds of ways, but edge-lordy? What is edgy about FFXV when compared to the other entries?

FF12 is still the best FF and Persona 4 was uber boring so I actually think that Persona 6 will sell negative numbers.