Highlights

  • The entire expansion pass for Persona 3 Reload is reportedly already done, according to a prominent Sega leaker.
  • The $35 bundle including a remake of the Persona 3 FES epilogue, The Answer, was announced on March 6 but won't be released until September.
  • The development of Persona 3 Reload is rumored to have been completed in spring 2022, much sooner than many fans assumed.

The entire expansion pass for Persona 3 Reload is already done and has essentially been cut from the game pre-release, a prominent Sega leaker has claimed. The same source shared some other surprising information about the project that doesn't match the fandom's established perception of the Persona 3 Reload development timeline.

The much-requested Persona 3 remake was announced at the June 2023 Xbox Games Showcase. Atlus described the project as a reimagining of the 2006 original instead of its later versions, P3 FES and Portable. The former expanded the base game with the addition of a lengthy epilogue chapter called The Answer. While some fans disliked the epilogue's grindy nature, others argued that the experience is incomplete without it, concluding that Persona 3 Reload not remaking The Answer is a big deal.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 SMT5 Vengeance Nahobino crossed hands with selective blue color filter and game logo
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The Answer Remake Was Allegedly Done Before Persona 3 Reload Released

Nine months later, Atlus announced the Persona 3 Reload expansion pass, a $34.99 bundle that includes Episode Aigis: The Answer. With the remake of the epilogue being planned for release in September, some fans took this to mean that it is still in the works, assuming that Atlus tackled it after wrapping up the development of the base game, a common industry practice for handling post-launch content. But well-known Sega leaker Midori has now suggested that is not the case, claiming that the entire expansion pass had already been completed before Reload was released on February 2.

Atlus May Have Been Sitting on Persona 3 Reload for Years

Aside from implying The Answer was essentially cut from the day-one version of the game, Midori claimed that Persona 3 Reload itself was finished nearly two years ahead of its market debut, stating that its development wrapped up in spring 2022. This doesn't account for the English localization, which was allegedly completed afterward. Reload Producer Kazuhisa Wada was previously on record as saying that the project entered active production in the second half of 2019, so Midori's recent claim suggests the entire undertaking only took around three years. That is a surprisingly short time frame for a contemporary AAA game, remake or not.

Although this is by no means official information, Midori's track record with both Atlus and general Sega leaks is spotless; most recently, this well-known insider leaked the existence and entire contents of the Persona 3 Reload expansion pass, as well as the timing of the DLC, both of which have just been confirmed as accurate. They had later taken to Twitter to clarify that the post-launch content for the game is part of Sega's company-wide initiative to extend the lifespan of its titles by giving players reasons to return to them. Even taking the claim that The Answer was done by this February at face value, it's possible that its localization work is still ongoing, not least because the Xbox Partner Preview teaser featured Japanese voice acting.

The leaker likened Reload's DLC-inclusive business model to that of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's action adventure Lost Judgment, which received three expansions over the 6 months following its 2021 release. Midori's latest info dump also saw them reiterate that Atlus has no plans to bring P3 Portable's female protagonist to Persona 3 Reload.