Two Atlus developers mentioned that the story could have ended with the two PS1 Persona games, without a sequel.

Although the Persona series is extremely popular today, it remained aimed at a niche audience for decades. Even Persona 4 Golden received little attention when it was released on the PlayStation Vita, despite the high anticipation surrounding its upcoming remake, Persona 4: The Golden. Atlus stated that the first Persona games, which were very different from later installments, could have easily been the last and that Persona 3 marked the critical moment that determined whether the series would continue. Today, the series enjoys immense popularity, but its producer, Kazuhisa Wada, acknowledges that the series could have ended with Persona 2 and cannot forget the past.

With Persona 3, Atlus thoroughly revamped the series. They introduced new features, such as Social Links, and improved the user interface, gameplay, and overall presentation. According to Wada, this was a deliberate move; the team needed to win over more than just the most dedicated fans. He discussed this and other topics in an interview with Famitsu. Wada acknowledges that he made the decision to oversee the overall design and user interface for Persona 3.

“After Persona 2, there was a long time when there wasn’t a plan for a third game. It seemed like Persona would disappear. It was necessary to bring it back. Until then, we had made games like Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, which were very popular among their fans. But at that time, our company, Atlus, had an image of being very fixated on our core fans. We knew we needed to change that image, so we looked to the Tales of games for inspiration. We were backed into a corner. It was a critical moment for the series’ continuation. Because of that, there wasn’t any hesitation about changing things that had been used until then. We really enjoyed making some of the changes, too,” Wada said.

“Starting with Persona 3, the format became an RPG that was much easier for a wider audience to get into. But what really shocked us was the UI. The fact that something so perfectly executed suddenly appeared was shocking. Even though the Persona games hadn’t been heading in this direction up until then, suddenly there was a design that was so perfectly controlled. The decision to abbreviate the title as ‘P3’ shows such style. If they’re putting so much thought into their work, we’re in trouble!”, added Yusuke Tomizawa, producer of Tales of, who was also part of the interview. He felt that the characters, UI, and overall style fit together perfectly.

After the first two installments, the third one was a huge change, but that’s exactly what paid off the most for Atlus!

Source: MP1st, Famitsu