First-Ever Persona Live 2026: Awakenings Concert to Debut in Los Angeles

Attention Persona and ATLUS fans! For the first time ever, SEGA is thrilled to share new details about the highly anticipated musical event that will unite fans of the acclaimed Persona series: Persona Live 2026: Awakenings.

Persona Live 2026: Awakenings is the first U.S. show of the Persona Music Experience series, which includes the full cast from Japan, set to debut at the iconic Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on Saturday, January 24, 2026. The day will include two shows, and the performance will feature live performances by fan-favorite artists including:

  • Lyn Inaizumi: Singer of Persona 5 series
  • Azumi Takahashi: Singer of Persona 3 Reload
  • Lotus Juice: Rapper and vocalist of Persona 3 & Persona 3 Reload
  • Toshiki Konishi: Composer and guitarist from the Atlus Sound Team

Following the success of the Persona Live Tour across Asia, which excited audiences with its high-energy performances and talent, the 2026 Los Angeles shows are eagerly awaited by U.S. fans excited to experience the magic firsthand. These shows give fans the chance to enjoy a one-of-a-kind experience with the music and talent that defined the Persona game franchise.

Key Information:

When: Saturday, January 24, 2026

Where: Dolby Theater, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028

Ticket Sales:

Pre-Sale: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 10 AM PT

Public On-Sale: Friday, November 7, 2025 at 10 AM PT

Joker Available To Play Now In Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds; CrossWorlds Surpasses 1 Million Copies Sold!

Today, SEGA officially released the free Joker content for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Players can now jump in and race alongside Sonic and friends as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, Joker from Persona 5! The free Joker Content Drop includes the following:

  • Joker as a playable character
  • Joker’s vehicle, the Arsène Wing
  • Three new Joker-themed songs added to the Jukebox
  • “Take Over”
  • “Wake Up, Get Up, Get out There”
  • “Victory”
  • Special emotes and sounds

Joker fans will also get to celebrate his arrival with the Joker Festival coming soon, starting October 24 until October 27! Players will get to collect Festival Points during the limited time event to claim exclusive rewards.

In other news, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has surpassed one million copies sold with tremendous accomplishments since release as players have:

  • Raced over 74.5 million times
  • Played in over 31.5 million Grands Prix
  • Played in over 13 million Ranked Matches

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – Release Date Revealed, SEGA & Atlus All-Stars Join the Race!

Today, during the Summer Game Fest 2025 livestream, SEGA unveiled a brand-new gameplay trailer for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, highlighting new racers from across SEGA and Atlus franchises. Familiar faces such as Joker (Persona 5) and Kasuga Ichiban (Like a Dragon) join the race, alongside exciting guest characters like Hatsune Miku and Steve from Minecraft. The trailer also revealed a new Minecraft-inspired track and confirmed that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will launch both digitally and physically on September 25, 2025.

Pre-orders for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds are now available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC, starting at $69.99 USD. Physical pre-orders for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, and Nintendo Switch Lite are also live, priced at $59.99 USD, with digital pre-orders coming soon. The Nintendo Switch 2 version will arrive at a later date for $69.99 USD and will include a paid upgrade option for existing Switch players.

For more information on the game’s editions, including the Limited Run Collector’s Edition and key features, check out the full details here!

ATLUS Announces Persona5: The Phantom X, Launching June 26, 2025

Today, SEGA and ATLUS announced that Persona5: The Phantom X will be launching on PC and mobile on June 26, 2025. In this unique turn-based RPG set in the world of Persona 5, players will lead a double life as a student and a Phantom Thief with a brand-new protagonist and band of Phantom Thieves.

Check out more information and screenshots of the game in the next section of the article.

SEGA x AirAsia Airlines collab with Sonic the Hedgehog & Persona 5 themed planes

SEGA & AirAsia has recently announced and officially reveals themed flights featuring Sonic the Hedgehog & Persona 5. This comes as a push from SEGA to develop their brands outside of gaming, and in an interview with President & COO of SEGA Shinji Utsumi, he says: “that the synergy created by the collaboration of travel and gaming, two forms of entertainment, will bring us new discoveries.” The Sonic themed plane is an Airbus 330, while the Persona 5 plane is an Airbus 320 and will fly over 100 destinations all throughout major cities in Southeast & Pacific Coastal Asia, including Tokyo, Seoul, & Shanghai. The Sonic plane is adorned with Uekawa style art on the outside & parts of the inside with a Sonic x Shadow collab on the inside compartments and seat backs, while the Persona 5 plane has it’s awesome Soejima stylized art on the outside.

Persona 6 Leak Hints at Green Color Theme, Fans Rejoice

Persona Fans Rejoice: Paint Bucket Theory Was True!

Eagle-eyed Persona fans can celebrate – their wild theory about the next game’s color scheme seems to be spot-on. Long time Persona leaker Midori spilled the beans on X/Twitter, confirming Persona 6 will rock a green theme.

This lines up perfectly with the series’ tradition of each game having a distinct color palette. Remember the blue hues of Persona 3, the sunshine vibes of Persona 4, and the fiery reds of Persona 5? Green’s the next logical step.

But wait, there’s more! This leak validates a crazy fan theory bouncing around since 2022. Back then, anniversary artwork featured all the Persona heroes against a graffiti wall. Notably, a bucket of mysterious green paint sat there, sparking speculation about a green-themed Persona 6 (despite the wall itself lacking much green). See that photo:

Phantom Thief, Morgana, joins the Monkey Gang in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania as post-launch DLC!

An announcement was made at this year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live that some of you might have never seen coming as Persona 5’s Phantom Thief, Morgana, will be joining the Monkey Gang in Super Monkey Ball as a post-launch DLC character and will feature the ability to collect treasure boxes across numerous stages. The feisty Phantom Thief will arrive on November 2nd for $4.99 USD (or equivalent) across all platforms. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania will be available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X on October 5, 2021.

PRE-ORDER

Steam | PlayStation 4 | Xbox One | Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series X/S

Persona 5 Strikers coming West to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Steam on February 23rd, 2021

The wait for Persona 5 Strikers is almost over! I know there has been a lot of upset fans that Persona 5 Strikers had been pretty hush, hush on its release in the West. This trailer was actually leaked, so its not ‘OFFICIALLY’ announced yet.  Persona 5 Scramble actually came out earlier this year in Japan, in February. That means that it will be 1 year that we get it in the West. Its not that bad of a turn around. The game takes the Dynasty Warriors hack and slash style and combines it with Persona 5‘s great storytelling and characters. Even better? This is suppose to serve as a sequel to the original game.

2020 is so crazy that now Persona is real time combat and Yakuza is a turn based game. Wow.

There was rumors that Koei Tecmo put on their finanical report that they weren’t publishing this title in the West, that’s because its being published by Atlus (aka SEGA basically). As always, I’m super excited to return to the world of Persona 5 and see where this game takes the franchise.

Persona 5: The Animation Getting Blu-Ray Set This September With English Dub

During the Aniplex Online Fest which was held during the Fourth of July weekend, we found out that we will soon be getting the Persona 5: The Animation Complete Blu-Ray Set.

If you have been waiting for the physical release of the anime, the Blu-ray will include all 26 episodes and two specials. This version will also have the original Japanese track and include a brand new English dub. The box set will also come with 12 art cards featuring the main characters. But all this will cost you $298.98. Yeah, expensive.

Here are also the voice actors for the English dub:

  • Ren Amamiya: Xander Mobus
  • Ryuji Sakamoto: Max Mittelman
  • Ann Takamaki: Erika Harlacher
  • Morgana: Cassandra Lee Morris
  • Yusuke Kitagawa: Matt Mercer
  • Makoto Niijima: Cherami Leigh
  • Futaba Sakura: Erica Lindbeck
  • Haru Okumura: Xanthe Huynh
  • Goro Akechi: Robbie Daymond

You can pick up Persona 5: The Animation Complete Blu-Ray on September 29, 2020.

Atlus & SEGA Creators Talk 2020 and Future Goals

The Japanese gaming website 4Gamer & Famtisu runs a piece every year talking to Japanese developers about their yearly goals, every New Years. This time it seems a bit special considering we are going into a brand new decade, 2020. Or is it 2021?

Most of the answers here from Atlus and one SEGA developer comes from the Famitsu article and was translated by Gematsu.

Persona 5 The Royal to release on March 31st 2020 in western territories, Phantom Thieves Edition announced

The western release date for Persona 5 The Royal has been revealed for March 31st 2020. This updated version of Persona 5 keeps the base game, but expands on it with new content. This includes a new party member called Kasumi Yoshizawa, a new area of Tokyo to explore, new Social Links, a new story arc, and more. It will be exclusive to the Playstation 4.

In addition, Atlus has revealed a new special edition of the game, officially called the Phantom Thieves Edition. This Phantom Thieves Edition will come packed with the game, Joker’s mask with a stand, steel book, soundtrack, collector’s box, art book, and a dynamic Playstation 4 theme. However the regular prints will also include the steel book and dynamic Playstation 4 theme too. You can pre-order the standard or the Phantom Thieves Edition below from Amazon, priced at $59.99 and $89.99 respectively.

Standard | Phantom Thieves Edition

Persona 5 Royal debuts in first place in Japan, beats out Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Mario & Sonic at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

It looks like its a big month for SEGA and Atlus in Japan since they released both Persona 5 Royal and Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games come out the same week. Surprisingly enough, Persona 5 Royal (201,448 units sold) did so well that it beat Nintendo’s Luigi’s Mansion 3 (150,649 units) by over 50k units.

I think its surprising because Persona 5 Royal is a ‘complete’ version of Persona 5 which launched with 264,793 units on PS4 (72,974 units on PS3). Sure, Persona 5 Royal sold less than the original but its still selling better than the last ‘highest selling Persona game’ before Persona 5, Persona 4 Golden which launched with 137,076 units. This shows you that re-releasing acclaimed games with more content isn’t a bad strategy and it seems Atlus fans come out and purchase these new versions.

Nintendo fans might think its disappointing to see Luigi’s Mansion 3 on Nintendo Switch not make it at number one, but this entry is the highest selling entry in Japan with 150,649 units compared to Luigi’s Manson: Dark Moon which launched with 110,840 units in 2013.

But what about Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games?

Atlus shows 11 minutes of Persona 5 Royal’s prologue gameplay

Atlus has streamed the first 11 minutes of Persona 5 Royal‘s gameplay during the latest “Let’s Players Gathering! Persona 5 Royal Newcomer Preparation Special” broadcast. Yeah, that’s a mouthful.

While its been awhile since I played Persona 5, the game obviously didn’t feature new character Kasumi Yoshizawa, which is now present in the prologue gameplay. Its odd that they had her appear so early, so we’ll see how they weave her into the game’s story.

Persona 5 Royal is set to release in Japan on October 31, exclusive on the PlayStation 4 and is heading West sometime in Spring 2020. The gameplay starts at 1:52:39 to 2:03:50, if it doesn’t autoplay at the start.

[Via: Gematsu]

Atlus releases Persona 5 Royal opening movie

Atlus has now released the opening movie for the upcoming Persona 5 Royal. They have also confirmed that they will also have Persona 5 Royal playable at the SEGA / Atlus booth at this year’s Tokyo Game Show 2019 from September 12 through the 15th.

If you live in Japan, you’ll be able to play Persona 5 Royal on PlayStation 4 on October 31st; the rest of us have to wait until Spring 2020.

Joker coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on April 17th, new trailer goes in depth over Joker gameplay

Nintendo has finally dropped information on when Joker will steal your stocks in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, on April 17th (aka tomorrow). In addition, Nintendo has released a new trailer that goes into great extent over how Joker plays, plus other content from the Persona series. Joker by himself primarily uses a mixture of his knife and pistol to rake up damage, giving him solid ranged and close combat capabilities. But his main gimmick is the ability to summon his Persona Arsene by filling up a gauge, which causes his normal attacks to have additional power and his Specials to change completely as long as Arsene is summoned. He has two different costumes, ones based on his Phantom Thief persona, and the other based on his school uniform, and his taunts can summon Morgana.

Along with Joker, he will be accompanied by a new stage called Mementos, based on the location from Persona 5, the stage receiving music tracks throughout the Persona series, and the addition of Spirits from the Persona series being included. Additionally, new Mii costumes based on Persona 3 and Persona 4 characters will be included, along with the return of the Tails and Knuckles Mii costumes from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS.

So when you get the chance, try out Joker in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and comment on your first impressions.