Persona 3 Reload Still Unlikely to Include Female Protagonist from P3P

In a recent interview reported by PC Gamer, Atlus producer Kazushi Wada addressed the ongoing speculation about the inclusion of the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable, known as Kotone Shiomi or Minako Arisato, in Persona 3 Reload. Despite the enthusiasm from fans, Wada made it clear that adding the beloved character, affectionately known as FeMC, into the full remake of the 2006 JRPG classic was simply not feasible due to development and budget constraints.

Persona 3 Reload, which reintroduces many of the signature features and mechanics of the original game, was released in February this year. However, the absence of Kotone/Minako has left many fans disappointed. Wada explained that during the planning stages of the post-launch DLC, Episode Aigis - The Answer, the team considered integrating the female protagonist. Yet, the more they delved into the logistics, the more it became evident that the development time and costs required to include her would be unmanageable.

"The more we discussed it, the more unlikely it became," Wada stated. "The development time and costs would not have been manageable." He further elaborated that even the possibility of adding her through a future DLC was out of the question. "But since it is not possible for us to release P3R with the female protagonist in this window, we just can’t do it," he added. "I'm really sorry to all of the fans who were holding out hope, but it is likely never going to happen."

The popularity of P3P's FeMC had led many to hope she would be playable in Persona 3 Reload, either at launch or as post-release content. However, Wada's latest comments indicate that this is highly unlikely. He had previously mentioned in an interview with Famitsu that incorporating the female protagonist would have been significantly more challenging and costly than developing the Episode Aigis DLC. "For a female protagonist, I am sorry to say that unfortunately, there is no possibility," Wada said. "The development time and cost would be several times longer than Episode Aigis, and the hurdles would be too high."