The Persona series has been a heavy-hitter JRPG franchise for years now, and the announcement of the much-requested Persona 3, 4, and Persona 5 Royal finally coming to Nintendo Switch later this year - just as they're also being made available on Xbox, Game Pass, and PC via Steam - has excited fans new and old alike. The anticipation is certainly justified, as folks have wanted these classic JRPGs to appear on the Nintendo Switch for years, having only gotten access to Persona 5 Strikers, a musou action title that bears little resemblance to the game from which it spawned. It will be wonderful to see the games reach new audiences, though this comes at the cost of being a little later for the Switch itself than anyone might have hoped.
These Persona games had years to appear on both PC and Switch, with Persona 3 releasing first in 2007, it's updated FES version a year later, and Persona 3 Portable hitting the PSP in 2010. There's no doubt that the games are all worthy of appearing on both platforms, especially since Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne HD and Shin Megami Tensei V both appeared on Switch. But since fans had been clamoring for portable versions of these favorite Persona games, the concurrent releases on Steam meas that many PC players will also have access to them through Valve's new portable Steam Deck hardware.
It's a bit of a slap in the face to die-hard Nintendo fans who've waited this long for Persona to really make a proper Switch debut, if only because the seemingly more logical move would have been to have these on Switch a long time ago - before the Steam Deck was even an option available to consumers. This would have given existing fans time to play their favorites while the PC crowd continued to enjoy Persona 4 Golden, already available on Steam.
The Persona Series Will Shine Brighter On PC Than Switch
There's no wrong way to play a game, and certainly it should make little enough difference whether one plays a Persona game on PC or Switch in the grand scheme of things. There's even an argument to be made that Persona 3 Portable might end up being a superior game to play on Switch over PC, given it was already an adaptation made for the PSP, a strictly portable platform. The way Portable controls and presents its world compared to the original Persona 3 and FES is substantial, and this could work against the game on a high-fidelity platform like PC, depending on how much effort goes into the port. If the backgrounds used for Portable's 2D exploration sections are upscaled using AI (despite being 3D in the original pre-Portable iterations), bigger screens and higher resolutions could call this more to attention.
Of course, Persona 3 Portable would likewise be an excellent fit on the Steam Deck, and Persona 4 Golden repeatedly breaking Steam records has already shown it to be an excellent fit for Steam Deck - no surprise, as Golden first appeared as a PlayStation Vita release before it made its way to PC. While Portable showed up only on PSP in its new iteration, Golden's Vita and PC releases gave it extra room to showcase its best qualities. Persona 5 took a similar step, with Royal appearing first on PS3 and PS4, then receiving an upgraded PS4-only edition in Royal, which will again appear shortly on current-gen platforms and PC.
The age of Persona 5 means that it will probably play just as well as a Switch port as it will anywhere else, but bringing all the improvements that came to the PS4 edition of Royal to the PC, Xbox, and PS5 will undoubtedly make those versions the most engrossing, visually impressive ways to play the game in 2022. Switch will have the benefit of portability, of course, but with the Steam Deck undercutting that unique selling point, the PC looks to be the most powerful, versatile platform for the game overall.
Why Fans Will Play Persona On Switch Anyway
It still seems like a shame that Atlus couldn't find a way to bring fans a Switch version of Persona 5 before this year, especially considering that Persona 5 Strikers was already on the platform. JRPG fans are likely on the Switch in at least marginally higher concentrations than PC, and Persona has already made a name for itself on portable platforms like the Switch in times past. This was not only with the aforementioned P3 Portable and P4 Golden, but with the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona remake of the original game that also appeared exclusively on PSP. This was again followed by two PSP remakes of both chapters of Persona 2, only one of which made it out of Japan. Persona spinoff games are no strangers to portable or Nintendo consoles, either, as Persona Q: Shadows of the Labyrinth and its sequel were both exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS.
Persona as a series works great on portable platforms, with a design that readily facilitates both shorter and longer sessions. Shorter sessions lend well to the Switch, as the ability to play out in the world remains the Switch's biggest advantage over the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck's battery life makes it difficult to be away from a power source for very long, which gives the Switch the edge in portability for those who just can't leave their games behind. The Steam Deck may win in the storage department for those who are download-only customers (at least as far as internal storage is concerned), but the Switch will provide enough flexibility that any player should be pleased to see these fan-favorite Persona games hit both platforms, even if it's still disappointing that it took nearly 6 years - since the Nintendo Switch first launched - for it to happen. Whether on Steam Deck or Switch, at least the dream of the modern Persona library on a portable console has been realized - and not once, but twice. It may not be what anyone thought Atlus' big 2022 Persona announcement would be, but it's still about as big a win that JRPG fans on any platform could ask for.
Persona 5 Royal will be available on PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Steam, and the Windows Store on October 21, 2022, with a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable will follow sometime in 2023.