Westerners will have to wait a couple months longer.
Sad news JRPG fans. The release date for Persona 5 in North America and Europe has been delayed from February 14, 2017 to April 4, 2017.
Atlas, the game’s developer, released this statement below in regards to the delay:
“The Japanese release of Persona 5 smashed all our expectations, and as a company, we decided that we owed our fans the very best effort to make Persona 5 our gold standard in localization. Practically, this means redoubling our QA and localization efforts, even returning to the studio to record previously unvoiced lines. “We don’t want to rush this game, and in this case, it meant we needed to move the release back for the last time.”
It’s not all bad news though, as Atlas also announced that the English version of the game will have dual-audio options, meaning the Japanese voiceover track will be available at launch as free DLC.
Additionally, the game will be playable at PlayStation Experience 2016, a fan and press event for PlayStation fans running December 3 and 4 in Anaheim, CA.
For those who don’t know, Persona is Japanese role-playing game series that follows high school students who can take on new identities (Personas) to fight supernatural beings. The games have an emphasized social aspect, where you build relationships with other characters, including the ability to date them. The series is also renowned for its art direction, which emulates stylized anime.
The eagerly anticipated fifth entry in the Persona series has been delayed a multitude of times, but was finally release in Japan on September 15. While us Westerners will still have to wait a few months, we cannot to dive into the gorgeous world of Persona.
Persona 5 hits the PS4 and PS3 in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017.