Megami Tensei
"Persona" is the largest and most popular spin-off from the "Megami Tensei" series. The first entry in the series, "Megami Ibunroku Persona" (originally released overseas as ""), was released in 1996 in Japan and North America. The first "Persona 2" title, "", was released in 1999 in Japan. The second game, "", was released in 2000 in Japan and North America. "Persona 3" was released in 2006 in Japan, 2007 in North America, and 2008 in Europe. Its sequel, "Persona 4", was released in 2008 in Japan and North America, and in 2009 in Europe. A sixth entry in the series, "Persona 5", was released in Japan on September 15, 2016, and was released in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017, to critical acclaims. In addition to the main "Persona" games are spin-offs, so far focused on "Persona 3" and "4": the canon spin-off "", two fighting games "Persona 4 Arena" and its sequel "Arena Ultimax" as well as the crossover fighting game "", and rhythm game "". While "Persona 3" and "4" used the "Shin Megami Tensei" moniker, it was dropped for the "Persona 4 Arena" duology and "Persona 4 Golden" as it would have made the titles too long to be practical.
Persona 5
Pre-order bonuses and its initial North American release date was announced a week prior to E3 2016. As with the Japanese release, the North American version was delayed so it would keep with other "Persona" games. In Europe and Australia, the game was published by Deep Silver. Initially planned for a Western release on February 14, 2017, the game was pushed back two months to April 4; the stated reason was that Atlus wanted the game to be at its highest possible quality. As with previous "Persona" games, the English localization was handled by Atlus USA and led by Yu Namba. According to Namba, the team began with a "blank slate" when choosing the English voice cast, as it was a new setting to earlier "Persona" titles. Localizing "Persona 5" was described by Namba as a massive project with the largest staff yet dedicated to the series. Namba, as project lead, made the final call on issues brought up by the team during the localization process. The localized script was estimated as being 50% bigger than that of "Persona 4 Golden". The game's title also dropped the use of the ""Shin Megami Tensei"" moniker in English regions, which was used for "Persona 3" and "Persona 4". While the English voice track was included on the game disc, the Japanese voices were made available as free DLC.