The first announcement for Persona’s 30th anniversary isn’t that thrilling, but don’t worry: there’s more to come
It’s a big year for gaming anniversaries. There are five massive series that turn 40 years old in 2026 – The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Dragon Quest, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania – whilst Sonic the Hedgehog turns 35, and Persona and Pokémon both turn 30. There’s probably a lot of celebratory stuff coming over the next 12 months, but let’s start with a franchise we know is getting some attention this year before anything else: Persona.
Earlier this week, Japanese developer Atlus unveiled an official website dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Persona series. Whilst there’s not too much over there at the moment, clicking through to the website will show you some fantastic new art from Persona character designer Shigenori Soejima (the most surprising aspect of this being that the team actually acknowledges Persona 1 and 2 – it’s been a hot minute!)
The first announcement to tie in with this anniversary promotion is the reveal of Fitness Boxing Persona 5. Not exactly Persona 6, is it? But if you’re a fan of the series – which has previously done collabs with Japanese series like Fist of the North Star and Hatsune Miku – you’ll probably enjoy a fitness gauntlet run by Joker or Ryuji or something… (let’s just hope Kamoshida isn’t taking on any new students). The Fitness Boxing series is developed by Japanese devs, Imagineer, and has been exclusive to the Nintendo Switch for the last few entries. You can probably expect the same, here.
The biggest news on the site, though, for those that want something a little bit more Persona-related and a little bit less ‘new year, new me’, is that we’re getting some sort of announcement on January 8th, or next Thursday if you’re reading this article on the day of publication. Whilst I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much for this (it could just be merch, or discounts, or news about the series’ upcoming concert dates), there’s a chance we could hear something about Persona 4 Revival or even the next full title in the franchise, assumedly titled Persona 6.
I expect we’ll also get a console port of gacha title Persona 5: The Phantom X at some point, too, and we may hear about that as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations. So keep your eyes peeled next week for the next entry in this announcement saga, and let’s just hope the next reveal is something big.
Now, excuse me as I start singing “You’ll never see it coming” to myself in an eternal loop.