Persona 1 and 2 remakes are "probably eventually" happening, series lead Kazuhisa Wada reiterates, who believes it's a creator's "duty to take the things you've done and make sure they're not lost."
Game preservation has been a particularly hot topic as of late following Sony's announcement that it plans to stop disc production for new PlayStation games from 2028. Though game preservation has been a continual challenge up to this point anyway, especially for older titles that naturally become harder to find and play over time, the idea that physical games are starting to be phased out by one of the main platforms is worrying, to say the least. Thankfully, though, plenty of devs are still committed to the idea of keeping their games accessible well into the future, and it sounds like Atlus is one of them.
Speaking in a new interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Persona 4 Revival producer Wada talks about his thought process surrounding remakes and remasters, going back to Persona 3's 2023 comeback. "When we originally conceived the idea of Persona 3 Reload, we knew we wanted to do P4R as well; we had to put it on the backburner, but it was something we thought of at the same time," he begins.
"For me, I think a remaster or remake is some kind of cultural preservation. As a creator, it's your duty to take the things you've done and make sure they're not lost, and are still around in the modern day," he continues. "From that same perspective, Persona 1 and 2 are something we'll probably eventually do too."
This isn't the first time that Wada has brought up the possibility of Persona 1 and 2 remakes – in another recent interview, he stated: "I can't say for sure, but personally, I think it's something we should definitely do. I think we have to do it." The necessity in his tone here now makes a lot of sense given his views on preservation, and I'm sure fans won't be complaining. Just look at how folks reacted when Atlus announced new merch for the oldest games in the series earlier this year – admittedly, partly thanks to some very questionable phrasing that suggested a lot more than some new shirts being on the way.
Of course, there's no doubt that these titles feel the most dated and different compared to the modern Persona games, which also raises the question of how they'd be handled in any remakes. That's not to mention the fact that there are two Persona 2s, so in total, this would be a whole extra trilogy for the devs to deal with.
For now, it's likely that Atlus has its plate full with Persona 4 Revival and the upcoming Persona 6, but Wada's words here definitely bode well for the rest of the series.
