Arc System Works, the developer behind Dragon Ball FighterZ and the new BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, is working on yet another fighting game franchise. Game Director Toshimichi Mori revealed in an recent interview that the studio is working on a new Persona fighting game. A date or release window was not given. Arc System Works also developed Persona 4 Arena back in 2012 and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax the following year.
Mori spilled the details in a recent interview. When talking about his new game BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, he stated that he would have to save some of his ideas for “future Persona projects,” as reported by Kotaku. Cross Tag Battle features some fighters from the Persona franchise along with the anime RWBY and visual novel Under Night In-Birth.
Of course, his brief sentence concerning the game’s conception didn’t confirm anything outside of its existence. However, given the pattern, the game would likely revolve around the world of Persona 5 just as Persona 4 Arena was set in the world of Persona 4. Persona 5 released outside of Japan in early 2017 and sold incredibly well. It would make sense for publisher Atlus to have Arc System Works make another fighting game, given that the developer has now shipped Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.
Despite its recent confirmation, there have been rumblings of Persona 5 fighting game for quite some time now. During the Arc Revolution Cup in Toushinsai in 2016, Kazuhisa Wada, the director for Persona 4 Arena, stated that he “definitely want[s] to make [a sequel] happen.” Then in April 2017, Atlus registered a whole host of web domains. Among the many sites they snatched up, P5U.jp was among them, which was speculated to stand for Persona 5 Ultimax.
Wada once again brought up a possible Persona 5 fighting game during the Arc Revolution Cup in Toushinsai in 2017. When prompted if Persona 4 Arena Ultimax would see a sequel, he responded that it “depends on [BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle].” The translation makes it difficult to discern whether or not he meant that it depended on Cross Tag Battle‘s sales or when the game was finished. But, after Mori’s words, a new Persona fighting game looks more like a “when” instead of an “if.”
