John Hardin has replied to a bunch of questions surrounding Persona 5. In the PlayStation Blog’s comment section, the PR Manager for Atlus USA and Sega of America talked about the lack of the 20th anniversary edition coming out in North America, Persona 5 being released in close proximity to Horizon Zero Dawn, region lock, cross save, DLC, comparison between the PS4/PS3 versions, censorship as well as the potential of releasing PS2 Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games for the PS4 with trophy support. You can find his comments on the various Persona 5 topics below:
On the lack of 20th anniversary edition coming out in North America:
Yeah, there was a ton of hype around JP’s CE, but we really wanted to separate it with some physical goods that we thought were pretty awesome! I think we both have pretty good offerings!
Availability of 20th Anniversary Edition 5 disc soundtrack as a standalone product:
AFAIK, the Japanese premium edition is the only way 🙁
On releasing so close to Horizon: Zero Dawn in North America:
- Yeah, kinda unfortunate how that worked out. But we’re not publishing Horizon and Sony’s not publishing P5, so we didn’t know 🙁
- I just hope that people can really appreciate the vastly different styles of the two games – everything from the aesthetics and soundtrack to the actual storyline (presumably?). And I hope people that pick up both enjoy them equally!
On the possibility of region lock:
I *assume* not, but I unfortunately don’t have a concrete answer for this.
If I so much as hear that phrase around the office though, rest assured I’ll make a stink about it.
Spoilers from Japanese release:
I hope that you don’t have your enjoyment ruined by spoilers, but more importantly, I hope our game transcends the threshold where spoilers ruin the story. It’s the journey, not the destination!
Possibility of cross save support between PS4 and PS3 versions:
I don’t actually know yet, but I’ll def. ask!
Availability of School Uniform DLC:
As for right now, no. Not sure if it will ever be a part of either of those editions, but it is HIGHLY probably it will be available (free or paid is TBD) at launch.
Official comparison between PS4 and PS3 versions:
Not at E3 – but definitely before the game is out!
More on censorship concerns:
It will be localized however our localizers see fit. But our track record for localizing games has been pretty exemplary in terms of not having to cut content. Yes, we had to edit several images for DT2 to avoid an AO rating, but we worked with the original artist and preserved most of what those scenes were trying to convey.
And before you throw #FE in my face, please note this very important difference: Persona 5 is published by ATLUS. #FE is not.
On bringing PS2 Persona and other Shin Megami Tensei games to PS4 with trophy support:
We had a cursory talk about that, but it hasn’t really gone anywhere since. Everyone’s too busy working on Persona 5. 😉
Persona 5 will be released is 2017 on the 14th of February. You can preorder the fifth mainline Persona installment with this link on Amazon.
