Well, we all witnessed it. Four new Persona games, including the long-awaited Persona 5. Even better, it’s coming out on the PlayStation 3, so long-time fans won’t have to shell out $400 bucks to play it. Not that PS3 exclusivity was a surprise, as the past Persona titles have come out on PS2, even though the PS3 had already been released.
But what many didn’t expect was Vita getting the short end of the stick.
The 3DS got a Persona RPG, the PS3 got Persona 5 and an update to Persona 4: Arena, and the Vita got, well…a dancing game. Yes, Persona: Dancing All Night is a real game. Ever play Project Diva? It’s sort of the same idea. Seeing Yu Narukami break it down with rolled up sleeves just seems ridiculous. Before this announcement, many thought ATLUS would really try to push the Persona brand on the Vita, following Persona 4: Golden‘s success last year. But a dancing game for it seems like a cheap cash-in rather than a handheld flagship title.
On the bright side, the Project Diva games have found a home on the Sony handheld. With the Persona brand on it, this could help bring up Vita sales, giving some more life to its overall abysmal sales. Unfortunately, since Project Diva is a Sega game, it seems the purchase of ATLUS has come with some repercussions. It is very possible that the only reason this dancing game is getting released is because Sega has a bit of a hold on the company.
Sony’s handheld console has a lot of doubt floating around its potential, and the Persona stream did little to calm those issues. Luckily, the one thing every Persona fan needed to hear reached their ears at the appropriate time. Persona 5 is coming. Maybe Vita will get something else soon, but for now, it seems ATLUS has put the console on the backburner.
