10 Persona 5 Crossovers that would Make More Sense than Call of Duty

3 weeks ago 10

Published Jul 1, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT

Daniel Trock is a Contributor at DualShockers specializing in PC games, lists, and reviews. He has been writing professionally since 2018 and covering games since 2020, with previous work spanning guides, news, lists, and reviews across multiple publications.

Before joining DualShockers, Daniel contributed guides to GamerJournalist and lists to TheGamer. He currently covers tech topics for SlashGear and BGR. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Marist College and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing from Western Connecticut State University.

Today, Call of Duty: Mobile is releasing its official crossover event with Persona 5, including character outfits based on Joker, Panther, Queen, and Violet, and an updated Plunder mode called Plunder Treasure Hunter with a Phantom Thieves-styled motif and even Shadow enemies. Now, I don’t like to make a habit of yucking yums, but to be honest, this crossover feels kinda… thematically inappropriate? The Phantom Thieves are, y’know, thieves, meant to operate covertly and stylishly, not just gunning down random soldiers with (admittedly cool-looking) rifles. Plus, they’re all teenagers, so having them in armed warfare feels like a bad look.

Every Persona Game Ranked By Story

Which Persona has the best story?

Atlus and Sega have been loaning out the cast of Persona 5 for crossovers relatively consistently over the years, and I’m not saying they can’t do that. I’d just prefer that, if we’re going to stick the characters and iconography of Persona 5 in a different game, the game in question at least be a little more in line with Persona 5’s vibe, whether thematically or in terms of gameplay. Maybe these hypothetical crossovers wouldn’t make as much money as Call of Duty, but it’d be a better look, at least, and hopefully not fall victim to the Persona 5 crossover curse.

Character-Replacing Skins

It’s genuinely surprising to me that League of Legends doesn’t really dabble much in crossover content, and when it does, it’s only on the other side of the equation, such as its characters and locales appearing in Fortnite and PUBG. Feels like we’re leaving money on the table here by not having character-replacing crossover skins the same way games like Smite do it. If League were to have any guest characters appear as skins, it’d certainly be more thematically appropriate for the Phantom Thieves to show up in Summoner’s Rift than in Call of Duty.

Now, here’s the puzzler: if we’re going to do this, we probably want all the Phantom Thieves, but in that case, we’re going to need to find champs that suit each of them, which might be an undertaking. Off the top of my head, I think Joker could probably replace Ezreal, and maybe Mona could replace one of the smaller champs like Teemo. Atlus and Riot can figure it out, I’m not gonna do their homework for them.

9 Infinity Nikki

Ann’s a Fashion Model

The central conceit behind gacha game Infinity Nikki is assembling various themed outfits, either to get said outfits’ magical abilities or to meet a theme and beat a rival in a style-off. Persona 5 is definitely a game well-steeped in stylistic endeavors, but more than that, you know who in that game knows a lot about fashion? Ann. She’s literally a fashion model, and embracing her profession is a big part of her character arc. The connective tissue is pretty obvious here.

The extent this hypothetical crossover would reach would depend on what the devs are willing to do. If they wanted to go whole-hog with it, we could do a little story where Ann meets Nikki and the two of them can have a few fashion contests while discussing what good outfits mean to them. If we want to pare it back a bit, just some outfits and accessories based on the Phantom Thieves would probably get people rolling the gacha in droves.

8 Zenless Zone Zero

Stylish Urban Fantasy Meets Stylish Urban Fantasy

Speaking of gacha games, several of Hoyoverse’s heavy-hitter games have dabbled in crossovers to varying extents, from Aloy’s cameo in Genshin Impact to an entire side story arc for Fate/Stay Night in Honkai: Star Rail. With all that in mind, the question is what the company’s urban fantasy action game Zenless Zone Zero could conceivably crossover with. Well, you know what else has a distinct urban fantasy flavor? Of course you do, you’re reading the list.

Persona 5 would make for a great crossover with ZZZ. Joker would make an excellent playable character, maybe with Mona as another character just to keep things interesting. Hey, we’ve already got variably-sized animal people like Zhao, so he wouldn’t even be out of place. We could even have an event with sidequests set in the Metaverse, with Wise and Belle acting as Joker and Mona’s support in lieu of Futaba. Hey, dallying in people’s cognition would hardly be the most abstract subject matter a Hoyoverse game ever got into, and I say that as someone who plays Star Rail.

7 Everybody’s Golf

Joker Seems Like He’d be Good at Golf

Everybody's Golf Hot Shots

If there’s one thing we know about Joker, it’s that he’s a lot more athletic than his skinny bod implies. Shadow-battling aside, he’s got a wicked swing at the batting cages and a steady hand at the fishing hole. All of this leads me to believe that Joker would probably be a pretty good golfer if given the chance, so why not give him the chance in Everybody’s Golf?

If Joker were to show up in an Everybody’s Golf game, he could be both a playable character and have his own unique course with a Mementos theme, featuring lots of spooky red and black colorations, maybe a subway track running along the rim. It could even be a gimmick course with Shadows roaming around the periphery and smacking your ball away if it lands near them. I know Everybody’s Golf doesn’t really do special shots, but it would be cool if Joker’s shots had an Eiha effect on them, with black flames trailing off.

6 Dead as Disco

We’ve Already Danced, Why Not Dance and Punch?

Something kind of fun about the current state of gaming crossovers is that even relatively smaller, indie games can still get crossovers from major IPs like Persona, though don’t ask me how. For example, even an indie game like Dead as Disco could make such a crossover work, and frankly, I think it’d be a waste not to go for it if the opportunity presented itself.

Joker and the other Thieves have already done their fair share of dancing in Dancing in Starlight. Just throw Joker in his dancer outfit onstage with Charlie Disco and let the two of them pummel legions of thugs to the beat. It writes itself, frankly. In fact, it writes itself so well, Dead as Disco’s modding community has already added Joker to the game via skin modding. They got the ball rolling for you, devs, all you have to do is pull the trigger to make it official.

5 PowerWash Simulator 2

Mona Needs a Bath

Both PowerWash Simulator and its sequel have continuously generated buzz through their respective crossover DLC packs. There’s something pleasant about getting to clean all the shmutz off of iconic vehicles and locales from your favorite games and media franchises. All you need is one of each, and you’re good to go. So, what needs cleaning in Persona 5?

For a vehicle, the obvious candidate is the Mona Bus. It’s not that big, but it’s got plenty of personality, and Mona could whine at you in your texts while you clean him. We could even do a little set dressing plot, like Mona got covered in something in the Metaverse and the only way to clean the stank is to clean him in bus form. Don’t ask how the Powerwasher gets into the Metaverse, they can go wherever they want. As for locales, Café Leblanc springs to mind, though if that one storefront is too small, maybe we could just hose down the entirety of Yongen-Jaya. It’s a reasonably-sized neighborhood, and there could be some little bits of Persona 5 references scattered throughout for fun.

4 Kingdom Hearts

Quadratum is Literally Shibuya

As the very, very steady drip marketing for Kingdom Hearts 4 has proceeded, folks have started to notice a distinct lack of cartoony Disney stuff, and a larger focus on the semi-contemporary city setting of Quadratum. While I’m sure there’ll be Disney stuff revealed eventually, I can’t help but wonder if maybe Kingdom Hearts is starting to lean more towards stylish, youth-focused IPs like The World Ends with You. It may not be a Square Enix JRPG, but if we want contemporary fantasy in trendy Tokyo, Persona 5 is right there.

Every Kingdom Hearts World, Ranked

Even at their worst, these worlds are still better than Gummi Ship missions.

Now, the million-dollar question, potentially literally given these franchises’ licensing value, is how we’d integrate the P5 stuff into Kingdom Hearts. The obvious answer is to just do a Persona 5 world, but going to Tokyo when we already have Quadratum feels kind of redundant. In lieu of that, I think it’d be better to steer simpler on this one: maybe an Arsene-themed Keyblade with some cool Phantom Thieves particle effects on hit, or a Gummi Ship blueprint based on the Mona Bus. Y’know, if we’re still doing Gummi Ship stuff in Kingdom Hearts 4.

3 Yakuza/Like a Dragon

It Wouldn’t be the Strangest Thing in this Series

Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth Kasuga Dwight

I often forget that Atlus is a subsidiary of Sega now, which I guess is why Joker keeps cameoing in games like Super Monkey Ball and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Still, I’m not complaining, and sharing a parent company with other major game franchises just means setting up crossovers is even easier. Case in point, whenever we get another regular Like a Dragon game after Stranger than Heaven, that’ll be a good time for Joker to show up.

There are some fine details that would need to be worked out in order to facilitate this whole thing, chiefly being whether this hypothetical game’s protagonist is Kiryu, Kasuga, or someone else entirely. If it’s Kiryu, I think it’d be neat for him to run into a hot-headed character like Ryuji, the two of them fight off some punks on the street, and Ryuji learns a little lesson that not all adults are “rotten,” as he likes to say. If it’s Kasuga, we can get a little weirder with it, maybe have him fight some actual Shadows with Joker, or at least some regular dudes dressed up as Shadows.

2 Crazy Taxi

Joker Already Drives like a Nut

While we’re on the subject of Sega, given the company’s impending efforts to revive some of its most beloved classic IPs, it might be good to get all of our crossover ducks in a row beforehand. With that in mind, since Crazy Taxi: World Tour is already on the docket, let’s ask ourselves how Sega could conceivably integrate Persona 5 stuff into that framework.

Admittedly, Joker has never worked as a cabbie, but given his propensity for odd jobs and his demonstrated skill as a driver, it wouldn’t be especially out of character. Though, he might be too young to drive professionally… maybe we could just let Makoto or Haru do it, since they’re both old enough to drive in Persona 5 Strikers. I think it would be most fun to let them drive around in a unique cab patterned after the Mona Bus, and have it play some canned Persona 5 sounds and use visual effects while you’re doing stunts and picking up fares.

1 Jet Set Radio

Tactica did a Whole Thing with Graffitti

Rebellion against the status quo is a major theme in Persona 5, and there’s nothing more classically rebellious than street graffiti. In fact, Persona 5 Tactica’s DLC mission, Repaint Your Heart, has a street art theme and unique mechanics centered around paint, so no one can say the concepts have never intersected. With that as our building blocks, it makes perfect sense to have some manner of Persona 5 content in the new Jet Set Radio, whenever it comes out.

Jet Set Radio’s setting isn’t quite high-concept enough to accommodate all the Metaverse and cognition stuff, so a full side mission or something probably wouldn’t work. We could still have Joker be a playable guest character, though, either in his usual Phantom Thief outfit or an entirely new outfit with more of a street skater motif. In either case, I’d better see some unique skates on his feet with little Arsene wings and black flames trailing off of them. You can’t tell me it wouldn’t look awesome grinding through Tokyo-to on those things.