Persona 4 Revival is All But Guaranteed to Miss a Golden Opportunity
Persona 4 Revival is slated to be the next entry in Atlus’ burgeoning Persona remake initiative, a process that kicked off with Persona 3 Reload back in 2024. This is a evolution of Atlus’ tendency to re-release their RPGs as remastered or “complete” editions, as observed with games like Persona 5 Royal, Persona 3 Portable, and even the recent RAIDOU Remastered: Mystery of the Soulless Army.
But like Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4 Revival is rebuilding the classic JRPG from the ground-up: it will feature all-new visuals, a modern camera perspective, new voicework, and, presumably, a considerable degree of new gameplay and narrative content. In other words, it’s something of a big deal, and likely to engender considerable hype from the Persona playerbase. Indeed, Persona 4 Revival could keep the franchise’s winning streak alive in a major way, but recent news about its release window pours cold water on those fiery ambitions.
Although Persona 4 Revival will modernize the original, the 2012 edition of the game, Persona 4 Golden, is available on most platforms—though it’s more akin to a remaster than a remake.
Persona 4 Revival Might Miss Persona's 30th Anniversary
Persona 4 Revival Would Have Been Persona's Best 30-Year Birthday Present
Revelations: Persona hit the scene in 1996, introducing the world to the Persona IP and expanding Atlus’ then-adolescent Megaten formula. Nearly three decades later, it’s hard to think of many JRPG franchises that are more influential and imaginative than Persona, which has continued to innovate with flair and enthusiasm. No one is more aware of this than the top brass at Atlus, with P-Studio director Kazuhisa Wada recently stating that he wants 2026 to be “a year where fans can enjoy the series even more.”
It goes without saying that Wada’s statement is a little ambiguous, but the heart of his message is mostly clear: he wants Persona‘s 30-year anniversary to feel special, perhaps even momentous. It makes sense why one would celebrate such an achievement for this landmark franchise, but Persona 4 Revival probably won’t be part of that celebration: it will release “in or after” the 2027 fiscal year, according to comments made during a Sega management presentation this summer. This means that Persona 4 Revival, at the absolute earliest, could launch in April 2026, but the fact that virtually nothing has been revealed about it beyond some in-engine demo footage suggests that this early-Spring release window is unlikely. Naturally, this is a little disappointing, but it also means that an obvious, much more exciting alternative could be waiting in the wings.
With Persona 4 Revival Looking Unlikely in 2026, Persona 6 Should Slither In
Persona 4 Revival could still release in 2026, but it’s implausible. Even if it were able to squeeze its way into next year’s release calendar, it would be something of an underwhelming way to celebrate Persona‘s 30th birthday. Sure, Persona 4 is an especially beloved chapter of the franchise, but it’s just a remake at the end of the day. Rather, Atlus and Sega ought to bring out the big guns: they ought to bring out Persona 6.
For a while now, Atlus has seemingly been pretending that Persona 6 simply doesn’t exist; what better way to end the deafening silence than with an announcement and subsequent release? It would certainly be more fitting to bring players this new, long-awaited entry in celebration of the series’ anniversary, rather than focus on yet another remake. Then again, fans probably shouldn’t bet on such a Hail Mary. We will all just have to hope that Atlus has some worthwhile tricks up its sleeve for the 30-year celebration.
