The Persona 3 Reload remake released in February 2024 will "likely never" get female protagonist Kotone Shiomi, who was introduced in a previous iteration of the game, its producer has said.
As reported by PC Gamer, Persona series producer Kazuhisa Wada told Game Informer Magazine that he was "really sorry" but fan pleas for Shiomi's inclusion will probably never be answered.
"The more we discussed it, the more unlikely it became," Wada said. "The development time and costs would not have been manageable.
"Persona 3 Reload has just released, and there is currently a lot of player interest, so if we are to do an additional release, it has to be now. But since it is not possible for us to release Persona 3 Reload 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."
Persona 3 Reload is the fourth iteration of Persona 3 (or the fifth if the port to modern consoles is included). The base game launched in 2006, followed by an enhanced edition called Persona 3 FES in 2007, and a PlayStation Portable version aptly called Persona 3 Portable in 2009.
It was in this latter version the female protagonist was released, so when Atlus announced a full remake promised to be a "complete experience," many fans were disappointed to learn it wasn't planning to include FES or Portable content.
The release model of Atlus, particularly of the Shin Megami Tensei (of which Persona originated) and Persona franchises, is starting to frustrate some fans. It's common practice for the developer to release the base game and then, a year or two later, released essentially a better version with extra content at full cost. Persona 4 received Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 received Persona 5 Royal.
Fans therefore took issue with Persona 3 Reload releasing without this content, not just because it was missing, but because they expected Atlus to release an enhanced edition soon after that would include it.
Looking to quell those concerns, Wada promised fans in March 2024 that Persona 3 Reload was a "complete experience," but just one month later Atlus announced an expansion pass. This would add a handful of cosmetics alongside Episode Aegis — a 30 hour epilogue added to Persona 3 FES — but no female protagonist.
Further frustration came as Atlus confirmed Episode Aegis wouldn't be available as a standalone but only as part of the $34.99 expansion pass. The "complete experience" promise therefore fell through, with fans actually having to pay a total of $104.98 to play every part of Persona 3 Reload. This still won't include all the Persona 3 content ever released, of course, and seemingly never will, as the female protagonist and other additional content remains locked in Persona 3 Portable.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
