There are plenty of long-running successful video game franchises out there though only a few of them have achieved unprecedented popularity across the globe as Rockstar Games’Grand Theft Auto. Atlus’Personaseems to have gained quite the popularity in the west withPersona 5, and the company is looking to expand this even further withPersona 6. Interestingly, bothPersona 6andGrand Theft Auto 6seem to be in a similar position right now. Information on both these supposed titles is paper-thin at the moment, the mystery of which makes them all the more exciting for fans of both.
BothPersonaandGrand Theft Autoare completely different franchises that cater to different audiences. However, there are plenty of similarities between the two franchises, one of which involves waiting for their highly anticipatednext-gen sequels. While it’s quite likely that respective fans won’t be getting their hands on the next mainline entries of these franchises anytime soon, it’s undeniable that their inevitable releases would yield similar gratification among fans.
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Persona and Grand Theft Auto Travel a Similar Road
Even though bothPersonaandGrand Theft Autogames belong to different genres, play different, and are directed to different sets of audiences, they still have a lot in common. For instance, both have nearly 25 years of history to boast, which as a result has yielded a humungous, ever-growing number of fans of different age groups.
BothPersonaandGrand Theft Auto games are deeply rooted in the cultures of the nations they take place in. EveryPersonagame features a diverse set of characters that authentically represent Japanese culture.Persona 5diligently reflects some of the social injustices that plagued modern Japanese society, heightened by the aftermath of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. This includes bullying, cybercrime, plagiarism, and sexual misconduct, to name a few.
Persona 5, orPersonagamesin general, tackle such relevant issues by thrusting players amidst a wide array of characters, each of which looks at the world through a different lens. Aside from focusing on such consequential subjects,Personagames are also home to major anime tropes, which makes them all the more appealing to the international audience.
Similarly,Grand Theft Autogamesare a satirical representation of modern American society.Grand Theft Auto 4did a remarkable job of depicting the various challenges of living as an emigrant in the fictional version of New York City.Grand Theft Auto 5reflected the horrendously superficial lifestyle of the inhabitants of the fictional version of Los Angeles.
Whether it’s the more serious tackling of these real-life struggles inPersonagames, or the satirical take in theGrand Theft Autogames, each entry in these two franchises feels progressive thanks to the painstakingly long gaps between the subsequent releases. This makes every newPersonaandGrand Theft Autogame all the more exciting and somewhat leaves them in a similar situation.
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The Success of Persona 5 and Grand Theft Auto 5
The last mainline entry in each series,Persona 5andGrand Theft Auto 5, don’t just share the numeral next to their prestigious titles. They are the accumulation of the series' years-long history. EveryPersonaandGrand Theft Autogame has been a critical and commercial success, butPersona 5andGrand Theft Auto 5took it to an entirely different level.
Persona 5took the resounding success ofPersonagames to a global audience, with the title garnishing unprecedented popularity outside of its native country.Persona 5not just became the fastest-sellingPersonagame in the series, but it also had thebest debut of aPersonagame outside Japan. This number was significantly boosted when Atlus released the superior version ofPersona 5, namedPersona 5 Royal, in 2019.
AlthoughGrand Theft Autogames have always been hugely popular across the globe,Grand Theft Auto 5elevated that to an entirely different level.GTA 5was released at a time when open-world games needed to be revitalized in a major way, which made it an incredible feat of its own. Since then,GTA 5’sshadow continues to loom over every majorAAA open-world gamerelease. As of now,Grand Theft Auto 5has become the second best-selling video game of all time, not to mention one of the highest-rated ones as well.
The soaring popularity ofPersona 5andGrand Theft Auto 5over the years has made them modern classics, whose copies should arguably be in every gamer’s collection. Rockstar Games are well aware of theunprecedented popularity ofGrand Theft Auto 5and has responded by making the game available across three generations of consoles. Furthermore, consistent free updates on its ever-expandingGrand Theft Auto Onlinemean that there is always moreGrand Theft Autocontent available for hardcore fans.
Persona 5isn’t as popular nor accessible asGrand Theft Auto 5, but it strives to be exactly that for RPG fans. Aside from getting a re-release in the form ofPersona 5 Royal, the game has gotten an action RPG pseudo-sequel spin-off calledPersona 5 Strikers, and a rhythm spin-off game calledPersona 5: Dancing in Starlight. All of this, including the basePersona 5being available across three generations of PlayStation consoles, means that fans have enough on their plate untilPersona 6arrives.
Persona 6is Atlus’Grand Theft Auto 6, and just likeRockstar Gamesis taking its time with the latter, Atlus is taking its time with the prior. While it’s quite likely that both of these next-gen entries are deep in development, they are not likely to be released anytime soon. This is primarily because bothPersona 5andGrand Theft Auto 5haven’t aged as much as many people would like to believe.
Even though both games came out years ago, there are a vast majority of people that are still discovering, playing, and replaying these games. The release ofPersona 5 Royaland the addition of the base game to the PlayStation Plus Collection has breathed new life intoPersona 5. Furthermore, there are rumors ofPersona 5coming to Xbox consoles. Likewise,Grand Theft Auto 5continues to sell incredibly well even to this date. The upcoming PS5 version ofGTA 5will likely boost that number even more. WithPersona 5andGrand Theft Auto 5being consistently profitable to each’s respective publishers, there is no immediate pressure to rush subsequent entries.
At this point,Persona 5is one of thebest JRPGsout there, whereasGTA 5is one of the best open-world experiences available. ForPersona 6to exceed fans' expectations, it is no doubt that Atlus would take theGTA 6route and take its time to craft what could be a defining next-gen JRPG.
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