Although we still know little about Persona 6, several former core developers of the series recently discussed the spiritual essence of the entire franchise in a roundtable discussion, giving us some reference points for the direction of the sequel.
At the "10th Mosaic" game culture and arts festival, Katsura Hashino, who directed Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and composer Shoji Meguro jointly discussed the unique characteristics of the Persona series.
You might think the core of the series is supernatural high school stories, but according to the gaming media outlet Automaton, Hashino describes it as "chaos"—when depicting adolescence, he deliberately avoids limiting himself to specific creative materials and expressions, incorporating more diverse content.
Shigenori Soejima added that "keeping up with the times" is another core aspect of this popular JRPG series, particularly evident in its world-building and storylines. This is to prevent the works from stagnating; Atlus's ultimate goal is for each Persona title to resonate with contemporary players, and drawing from modern society and cultural elements is one way to achieve this, later blended with Persona's signature style.
When discussing the core essence that modern RPGs should possess, Hashino stated that games must create sufficient impact to stand out amidst today's vast array of media content.
Developers need to ensure that the gaming experience does not "become a fleeting pastime," easily replaceable like TV shows. Instead, games should serve as "nourishment from which players can draw strength and guidance on their life's journey."
Hashino concluded by stating that his team has not yet fully realized this vision, but future works will continue to explore in this direction. Of course, this philosophy will not be reflected in Persona 6. As previously reported, Hashino now leads another development team at Atlus, whose latest work is Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Nevertheless, these core series concepts he proposed at least give us a glimpse into the direction of the sequel. However, whether the current Persona development team will follow these guidelines remains to be seen. Only time will tell.