When Persona 5 was made, Persona was completely obscure, no one knew about it but nerds.
Now that it's a big hit, and it's 2025, they can't release a new game with PROBLEMATIC sexualization of teenagers.
Metaphor was them admitting it, they can't find an "acceptable" way to do it
If they make it adults, it's not Persona
If they remove the romance and sex appeal from the teenage characters,, it will be irredeemably woke trash
If they keep it, it will be weird, creepy, problematic
There's no path forward