During the CEDEC + KYUSHU 2024 conference held in late November 2024, a panel was held with Kazuhisa Wada, the Persona series’ creative producer. While the panel was mostly focused on talking about game production, one topic during the Q&A section stood out, which was caught by the Famitsu journalist that was present during it.
In particular, during question three, which focused about the series’ past and future, two questions were posed to Wada: the first being how much creative freedom he has during the development process of Persona, and the second one asking about the particular reason why is the Persona series’ cast of protagonist composed only of male students.
Wada responded to this, saying the following:
“The Persona series depict a story about growth. The most effective use of such a setting is students who are on the verge of adulthood. Most people have experienced the life of a student life, which makes it easy to empathize with [the characters]. Gender, however, is related to their mental age”, he stated.
“When it comes to high school students, women have a tendency to be more mature than men. Therefore, it’s best to depict that kind of growth from a male student’s perspective.” Wada later emphasizes however, that this “doesn’t mean adults or women protagonists are never going to be considered for the series [by the development team].”
The latest game in the Persona series is Persona 3 Reload, which is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
