In just over a month, Persona 5 will return to the PlayStation 4 to take players' hearts once more, in the updated re-release of Persona 5 Royal. The game, which already launched in Japan last October, is slated for a March 31st release in the west, where it has been confirmed that it will have two scenes edited from its original version. The changes revolve around two minor cutscenes in the game, where two "stereotypical gay men" approach the player characters as a gag, In the game's original western launch, these scenes were met with mixed reception, with certain players finding the content offensive, which has lead to Atlus USA believing that the release of Royal is the perfect time to "update it for the current generation".

In an interview exclusive to IGN, Atlus USA's Communications Manager said that these two scenes would be changed, as to not cast the men in a "negative light".

We actually were able to go through some of the lines that players may not have received as well, look at that feedback, and then [update it] for the current generation.

In a separate exclusive interview with Gamespot, localization manager Yu Namba commented the following, regarding the content in question.

As a localization manager, I really cannot do too much about what has already made it into the game. Our team members felt a little bit of awkwardness about when working on it. And with Royal, we were determined to see if we could do something about it at least localization-wise. On our end, it took a lot of effort consulting not just the production department, but talking with our marketing, and how they would feel about it if we changed how things were in Persona 5 to this new way--what would the public reception be, what the company would think, whether it would be okay if we do make the change.

If you're curious to see the original Persona 5's version of those scenes, they both have been linked below.

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[jesterscourt]

I wonder if they will patch the updated scenes in the original release of P5.

 

[IncredulousP]

As much as I hate homophobia, I hate censorship. I haven't seen the scene yet, but if I were to play the game blind I'd prefer it to be unchanged.

 

[Chary]

I'm sure there's many things to argue, from Atlus previously being in favor of "censorship" in the past (TMS#FE), or that any form of censorship is bad no matter what, but this amounts to literally 1 minute of content out of a 90+ hour RPG. I couldn't care less about the changes, honestly.

 

[XDel]

Gay

 

[matias3ds]

Gay = fem for the guys behand the game . There are Masculine gay guys .

 

[Darksabre72]

I'm sure there's many things to argue, from Atlus previously being in favor of "censorship" in the past (TMS#FE), or that any form of censorship is bad no matter what, but this amounts to literally 1 minute of content out of a 90+ hour RPG. I couldn't care less about the changes, honestly.

i see your point and i can respect it, but imo i disagree with censoring a game wither it's big or small

 

[James_]

insert Scott the Woz reference here

 

[whateverg1012]

Just watched the original scene, it wasn't even bad, I wonder who can be sensitive enough to be offended by it.

I already played through the JP version but it sucks the west get neutered games because of a few people whining

I wonder what else Atlus USA has changed, I doubt this is the only difference.

 

[ThoD]

Alright, this is way past absurd, why are SJWs constantly ruining great games with this bullshit? It's bad enough that only few days ago they made a great translator quit completely, but now they are getting big companies like Atlus to change their games...:/

 

[DarkKaine]

Just watched the original scene, it wasn't even bad, I wonder who can be sensitive enough to be offended by it.

About 2 or 3 overly sensitive gay people that whine on twitter, followed by a mob of people that have no clue what the context even is but retweet it and post death threats to the developers just because they like dick as well.
Current internet culture is cancer.

 

[banjo2]

I thought Persona 5 was already out for this generation

 

[IncredulousP]

Alright, this is way past absurd, why are SJWs constantly ruining great games with this bullshit? It's bad enough that only few days ago they made a great translator quit completely, but now they are getting big companies like Atlus

About 2 or 3 overly sensitive gay people that whine on twitter, followed by a mob of people that have no clue what the context even is but retweet it and post death threats to the developers just because they like dick as well.
Current internet culture is cancer.

And this happens with absolutely anything, not just "sjws".

 

[Panzerfaust]

I bet, those who complained about the scene arent even gay. Just some pathetic PC soldiers.

 

[kumikochan]

Just watched the original scene, it wasn't even bad, I wonder who can be sensitive enough to be offended by it.

I already played through the JP version but it sucks the west get neutered games because of a few people whining

I wonder what else Atlus USA has changed, I doubt this is the only difference.

Sjw game journo's crying out on twitter ofcourse

 

[supergamer368]

shouldn’t have changed it, but at the same time whooooo caaaaares. it’s nothing game-changing so whatever. maybe atlus’ll leave it alone next time.... not.

 

[Rabbid4240]

Gay :/

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I bet, those who complained about the scene arent even gay. Just some pathetic PC soldiers.

I hear they're stuck in an era where they think they can REEEEEEE to get their way.

I'm sure there's many things to argue, from Atlus previously being in favor of "censorship" in the past (TMS#FE), or that any form of censorship is bad no matter what, but this amounts to literally 1 minute of content out of a 90+ hour RPG. I couldn't care less about the changes, honestly.

Give them an inch, they'll demand a mile.



The best thing to do is to tell them that if they hate it so much, they can simply not buy the game...like ResetERA's broke, indebted-to-student-loans-ass was gonna do in the first place!

And I heard that this re-release wasn't exactly selling like hotcakes either (probably because, to be quite honest, it really doesn't add much to the original that couldn't have been on the level of Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut ending was to the game it was supporting), so if this one shits the bed sales-wise, maybe ATLUS will get the stick out of their ass from Soyny and start porting ALL of their non-spinoff games to the Switch in regions other than Japan and tell Sony this:

 

[chrisrlink]

so what a hate group would boycot a game if unchanged boo hooo only a drop in the bucket compared to the copies sold they probably triggered more boycotts by editing those 2 scenes out

 

[AkiraKurusu]

As a heterosexual guy myself, those two scenes were...weird. They were only really funny because Ryuji was in a bind, yknow?

This, I don't really mind disappearing. They could've easily have 'aged up' the cast (all of whom are obviously teens, especially Futaba) or not directly referenced sexual harassment/assault (...why did Kamoshida become a generic superhero in Q2?), or covered up some of the more provocative designs (Shadow Sae, a couple of Personas), but they didn't. This is incredibly minor, and I don't mind.