Persona 3 Reload Dev Explains Why They Decided to Make the Game

Persona 3 Reload's producer, Ryota Niitsuma, recently explained why the developers at Atlus decided to remake the original game. Persona 3 Reload launched on February 2 after much anticipation, with the title being a full recreation of the original 2006 JRPG that adds a number of quality-of-life improvements to bring it closer to games like Persona 5, while also adding extra material from past re-releases.

Though remasters and other re-release collections are an easy way for newer fans to experience older games, some video game developers have pursued creating full-on remakes. The Persona community had wanted the later for years, with many fans being vocal about their support online, especially in surveys submitted to Atlus. This demand was heightened after Atlus re-released Persona 3 Portable on modern platforms in 2023. Niitsuma recently commented on how this fan support ended up influencing Reload's conception.

In an interview with Game Informer, Niitsuma commented that the Persona developers were motivated by fans demanding a remake of Persona 3. After development on Persona 5 Royal was completed, the developers were ready to work on another title and were racking their brains about what to do next. They then realized that it was the perfect opportunity to remake the original Persona 3 and bring it to modern systems. «We had a lot of input from our fans and from players of our games and it seemed like everybody really wanted to see a remake of Persona 3,» said Niitsuma. «Once we finished Persona 5 Royal, internally, we were ready for another title, and we were trying to figure out what it was, and it just seemed like the right moment. It seemed like all the stars had aligned.»

The overall story and structure of Persona 3 Reload remains mostly the same when compared to the original. Niitsuma explained that the developers went for a «one-to-one» approach in recreating the original game, but made some smart changes in Persona 3 Reload to modernize it. Most of these