The Persona series is currently in an interesting place. Following the release of Persona 5 back in 2016, the series has grown exponentially more popular. Back in December 2023, Atlus confirmed the Persona 5 series--which includes the original game, Royal, Strikers, Tactica, and Dancing in Starlight--has sold more than 10 million copies. When Persona 3 Reload launched earlier this year, it sold over 1 million copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling Persona game to date. Compare that with Persona 4 at 2.5 million copies sold--1 million of those from the last year--and you can see the franchise's incredible momentum.
Suffice to say, there's never been more eyes on the Persona series, and this makes the studio's current transition and trajectory particularly interesting. For the past eight years, the studio has solely released remakes, ports, and additional content pertaining to the series' existing entries. Even more notable, however, is that the team working on these projects (Atlus' P-Studio) has also seen an exodus of long-time Persona developers, with Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima, Yuichiro Tanaka, Azusa Kido, Yujiro Kosaka, and Yasuhiro Akimoto all leaving the Persona series to start a new team and work on the upcoming fantasy RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio. I can't help but wonder, then, what's next for P-Studio and the Persona series?
I recently had the opportunity to delve into this with Atlus' Kazuhisa Wada, a long-time producer and director at the studio who now leads P-Studio following Hashino's departure. Though the conversation focused on the studio's next release, Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis, I was also able to gain some insight into the future of the Persona series, if we'll one day get Persona 1 and 2 remakes, and why the team can't seem to stop releasing deluxe editions of its games.
GameSpot: Why did the team decide to release Episode Aigis as DLC rather than incorporating it into the base game as Persona 3 FES did?
Wada: FES was released months after Persona 3, which ended up being the "complete" version of the game. Episode Aigis itself was a standalone piece of content you could select from the main-menu screen, even though it was included in the base game. Some of the reason is that we felt it made sense to release it as a separate DLC rather than as a complete version of Persona 3 Reload. However, a larger reason was that we were simply unable to plan for Episode Aigis ahead of time. Late into the development of P3R, we found ourselves under extremely difficult circumstances--we still wanted to make Episode Aigis a reality, but we didn't have the proper resources to make it happen. Thankfully, last year, we were able to secure the team necessary to do so. But even then, we hadn't decided on the overall team structure for the project. While we were unsure at the time whether we could get it across the finish line, I was determined to make Episode Aigis see the light day. So, I pushed through, and we were able to develop it as DLC.
I've always felt that The Answer was an extended metaphor for grief--that it explores how the world seems to stand still and we find ourselves pushing away emotions rather than processing them. What is it like revisiting these themes all these years later, with more life experience?
Rather [than the team's thoughts], I would be interested to know how you and others who shared those same feelings at the time feel about these themes now, all these years later and with that experience. The essence of Episode Aigis is essential to fully convey the overall significance of P3, so if we can help people understand it better, that may be one answer.
In fact, we have tried to make a few adjustments to the game in order to help players better understand these themes, and to ultimately help them move forward from 3/31. We looked back at the scenario and analyzed the various opinions of fans at the time and picked out the parts of the scenario that were "controversial" outside of the main plot. In the original, we felt that the limited description of each character's actions and decisions made it difficult to convey the necessary emotional premise, so we made some delicate adjustments around that. I'm sure there are many different opinions on how this will affect the game in general, but I would like to ask you to play the game and see for yourself, and then give us your honest feedback.
What are the most meaningful changes, both story-wise and in regards to gameplay, in Episode Aigis?
In terms of story, the dialogue of the main story was adjusted based on the policy described in your second question, while the missing information in terms of emotions and relationships between friends was filled in through linked episodes and dungeon conversations.
In terms of gameplay, new Theurgy, shifts, and special skills were added based on the design specifications of Reload to eliminate the stress of the FES era and to make dungeon attack and battles more enjoyable. In addition, five difficulty levels are available here, allowing for a variety of play styles. The highest difficulty level is also very challenging yet rewarding at the same time.
Lastly, not only is the Persona Compendium included, but any compendium progress can be carried over from the base version of P3R using existing save data, so we hope fans enjoy all these changes.
What is the most challenging aspect of remaking a game nearly 20 years later?
The most difficult task was to create a production structure and get the project drafted and approved. From there, we had to find the best way to convey the essence of the content, which was divisive at the time, and how to tune it for the better. It was equally challenging, but also just as important and rewarding, to find a way to portray both Metis, a character who had not appeared for almost 20 years, and the game's themes in an appealing way.
With the inclusion of Episode Aigis, Persona 3 Reload feels like it is the deluxe version of the game yet it is missing an important feature: the female protagonist. Why was she excluded? Will we see her again one day?
Unfortunately, the female protagonist will not be added to P3R. Back when we were planning Episode Aigis, we had considered adding the female protagonist, but the more we looked at what this would take to make happen, the more unlikely it became. The development time and cost would not have been manageable and due to the nature of the content, it's difficult to entrust this externally. Even if we were able to move forward, the actual release would end up being far into the future.
Beyond that, we would be expected to build not just a remake, but a completely new game, so we would need to devote our limited development resources for it. I apologize to the fans who have supported us for so long, but this follows the same reasoning that allowed us to do Episode Aigis: We cannot do any additional content like creating a female protagonist for P3R unless we create and release it at this very moment where interest in P3R is at its highest.
But since it is not possible for us to release P3R with the female protagonist in this window, we just can't do it. I'm really sorry to all of the fans who were holding out hope, but it is likely never going to happen.
Atlus has a tendency to return to games and release new editions with new features fairly regularly. Why is that? When do you decide to reach a stopping point?
Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal added many expanded features that couldn't be contained in a DLC format, so we had to treat them as completely new games. This time, we've kept that in mind for Episode Aigis, so we've made sure that the expanded content only works as DLC. Moving forward, if the content doesn't significantly expand on the base game, then we would like to deliver that content in an appropriate format.
As Persona 3 Reload wraps up, are there any plans to remake Persona 1 and Persona 2?
It is not on my schedule right now. I would like to do it someday.
I know some of the team members have moved on to Metaphor: ReFantazio. How does this impact the future of the Persona series?
Many years ago, one of the issues we wanted to resolve as a company was to improve the development capacity of the organization. Fortunately, as of today, very talented young and mid-career people are steadily growing through projects like P3R and P5R, so if we are asked about the impact on the future from here on, the answer can only be "for the better."
We game developers, myself included, have a number of issues that need to be resolved in response to the lengthy and expanded game development process. I believe that one of the most important things to do is to pass on the spirit of the game to the next generation. One of the most important things is to build an organization that allows that transition to happen naturally.
In order to develop and maintain a sustainable, high-quality series of titles, I believe that the methodologies of organizational reform and generational change at that time were unavoidable and highly necessary. Even then, I believe the fact we can point to the growth of the Persona series from then to now is the best proof we have that we are on the right track. Therefore, we would be very happy and encouraged if you all have even greater expectations of both us and the games we produce in the future, so please keep up the good work.
