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Initial Concepts#
Persona 5 was initially planned when Persona 4 came out for the PlayStation 2 in 2008. The developmental teams had split into half since then, working on Persona 3 Portable and Persona 5. Hashino had always wanted to make a Persona game with the "phantom thief" genre, so a design draft was created during scenario planning for Persona 3 Portable, labelled as "Persona The 3rd".1.
One of the main concepts for Persona 5 had two keywords which were "Self-discovery” and “journey” along with an image of "jumping out of school and taking a journey into the outside world" in mind, as well as "backpacking and flying all over the world" which would be a drastic change from the previous two Persona games. They considered incorporating historical background to convey the connection of “bonds” with other people. It would be loosely revisited in the game's spin-off sequel, Persona 5 Strikers where the central plot of the game involves the Phantom Thieves travelling around the country.2
The developers wanted to implement "real-time elements" into the game, so an "action-combat" system was considered then, but it was rather short-lived because it would have been a drastic change and departure from the turn-based system.
Development Beginnings#
On July 2, 2009, Japanese gaming website 7-Rush accidentally mentioned "a Persona 5 for the PlayStation 3" in an article about the then-forthcoming Shin Megami Tensei K pachinko machine. Many Japanese gaming sites asked that website for more information, but the article was quickly edited to remove the mention of that game. In 2010, the team that worked on Persona 3 Portable merged into the team working on Persona 5 after development had concluded.
On March 24, 2010 in Volume 469 of Dengeki PlayStation, Katsura Hashino publicly confirms that the next main numbered title of the Persona series is confirmed to be in development. Hashino said that he wants to add elements that fans would usually expect, while also changing them within those constraints.
To make sure that the team was prepared for bigger-scale projects, Catherine was developed as a "test" for life-sized models, detailed backgrounds and motion-captured cutscenes in tandem with the new Persona 5 game. However, it proved to be a tough challenge for the company itself because half of the team were already working on various other titles, while the other worked on Persona 5 and Soejima would make sure that the details were exactly as he wanted it to be, trial and error.
"Active development" of Persona 5 would begin after Catherine was released in February 2011 in Japan, where they took advantage of the resources created by the Gamebryo engine, which would later evolve into a in-house engine.
Change of Direction#
The exploration-themed idea had to be completely reworked due to the Tohoku Earthquake in March 2011. Katsura Hashino wanted "a bigger focus on Japan" 3 and people became aware of everybody else during that time, to cherish each other and overcome the incident. He also thought that people's mindsets had changed when the natural disaster happened, applying the contemporary setting of the Persona games and another plausible reason why he wanted to change the idea.
Hashino started to look at the "adventurous spirit of the human mind" as an alternative idea where he compared it to a "inner revolution", eventually becoming the centralistic theme of the game. The developmental team also reworked that idea into a journey into the "spirit world" instead, where they would take shape and shift into different directions.
It was apparently when they went with the Persona The 3rd design draft as a secondary option at this point. The "Phantom Thieves" motif came from Hashino's idea of wanting to enact the carefreeness of Lupin The Third manga series into the main protagonist. He also wanted to go with the idea because it's a genre that's rather old-fashioned and stereotypical but is still relevant to this today. Hashino also brought up that he doesn't see this portrayed in games.
Soejima went with a "passionate" red aesthetic with minimal contrasting monochromic colors in comparison with the "calm" blue and yellow color schemes from Persona 3 and Persona 4, respectively. Unlike the previous games, a sub-color was not included so that it can stand out more. This was because he wanted the game to feel like it "started anew" while also evoking a sense of things to come.
Project Proposal#
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Let's steal back our future! |
Concept Sheet#
Several concepts of the backpacking theme were drawn in the form of a concept sheet, along with some text below; 
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PERSONA5 GAME DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS VER_1.0 Be personal for change. |
Two pieces of concept art can be seen, although in a lower resolution, of a character stopping in the middle of a desert with a red car, and the protagonist exiting from an airplane door of some sort. The protagonist's design doesn't seem to resemble the one seen later on in development.
Early Concept Art#
Among with the finalized phantom thief-related concepts of the game, this artwork stands out for being "travel-related", due to having suitcases inside the trunk.
A concept art of the protagonist and the scrapped female protagonist driving in a sports car in a subway-like area, which appears to be a very early draft of Mementos. According to the Persona 5 artbook, Morgana was originally planned to transform into a sports car instead of a van which was reworked due to it not being able to fit the entire gang.
Interestingly on the left side, a world map with sticky notes can be seen. Whether this is to do with the scrapped world travel concept is unknown.
The gang in a garage with a globe next to the car.
Early Test Footage Build#
Watch on YouTubeEarly footage was shown off in episode 5 of the Persona Stalker Club on October 31, 2016, in a rather unfinished state and likely from the preliminary development period.
- The protagonist's uniform looked slightly different, where it had a shirt and a tie rather than a turtleneck, and burgundy-striped pants looking closer to one of his early designs. He also carried around a bag that resembled more of a suitcase before it was replaced with a regular school bag. interestingly, that model can be found in the final game, albeit unused.
- The girls' uniform for Shujin Academy was different.
- The building that the protagonist was in is actually part of the apartment seen in later footage. The apartment would later make its way to the final game as a cutscene-exclusive location.
- The view outside of the apartment was likely reused for the SIU Director's office.
- For a brief moment, the "CHECK!!" prompt from Persona 4 appears.
Later Test Footage 1#
Footage from a slightly later build were shown in April 2017 in a 4Gamer article.
- The protaginist model matches that of a earlier model seen unused in the Dec 4, 2015 prototype. He also has a black turtle neck, unlike the female students. Meaning it could of been a very early leftover design.
- The background NPCs originally had face patterns and a monochromatic color scheme as an experiment. This was later changed because the director thought that the colors were too dull.
- Several leftovers from Catherine are present, obviously for placeholder purposes
- Emotes leftover from Persona 4 Golden are present.
Later Test Footage 2#
Footage from a slightly later build were shown in April 2017 in a 4Gamer article.
- The protagonist's model and design matches that of the final, however the animations are different than the final.
- The animations for the school bag were likely unfinished at that point as well as the textures, sporting a rather unusual blue color.
- The protagonist originally stayed in an apartment where Hashino stated it as being in a "trendy drama", whom has home to a prosecutor rather than a cafe manager. The prosecutor would originally have been chasing the protagonist's other life as a phantom thief while they get angry at the Calling Cards sent to antagonists throughout the game. The idea was discarded and reworked into a separate character named Sae Niijima, because Hashino thought the idea was too much "like a cheesy drama".
- Traces of the scrapped apartment location can be seen in unused text, where it was divided into three different areas.
- Several leftovers from Catherine are present, obviously for placeholder purposes such as the text box and faceless model of Katherine as a stand-in for the prosecutor.
- The "Check!!" graphic from Persona 4 Golden is seen except without the button prompt.