Originally a spinoff derived from the
Shin Megami Tensei franchise,
Persona has emerged as a fully-fledged Atlus IP in its own right.
Indeed, no less than four new titles were announced by Atlus Japan a few hours ago:
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, a 3DS chibi crossover with the casts of
Persona 3 and
Persona 4 teaming up for some first-person dungeon crawling.
Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold (or, as it will more likely be known as in the West,
Persona 4 Arena 2), the second fighting game spinoff to be co-developed with BlazBlue creators Arc System Works; this one was already announced for arcades, but is now confirmed to be heading for PS3.
Persona 4: Dancing All Night (seriously!), yet another
P4 spinoff (this one for the Vita), being co-created with the developers of the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva series.
And, last but by no means least,
Persona 5 will be heading to the PS3 late next year (or possibly in 2015 in the West?)
A shame that Atlus USA had to close their own forums just two days prior to this raft of news. Unless that was part of their nefarious plan all along...