It has been confirmed to IGN that a scene in Persona 5 The Royal has been altered for the Western Release. Some of you may remember very progressive forums on the internet taking issue with the scene were Ryuji meets two effeminate male characters. They said this portrayed these gay characters in a bad light and was homophobic. Atlus has now altered this scene and later a beach scene that came later to no longer show them in “A negative light.”
From IGN:
While Atlus didn’t share exactly how these scenes would be updated in response to these complaints, Advincula said asking if they would be addressed was one of the first things she did when joining the team. “That’s really important to me, and I think it’s really important to the community as well.”
Advincula also explained that their localization team has an “internal content review team” she described as “very on the pulse about what’s right and what to do.” She explained Royal was “a chance to make it right.”
You can also check out an interview at GameSpot with the localization manager that sheds more light on their thoughts on this matter.
There is no word on if other changes were made to the Western release. Persona 5 The Royal will release on PlayStation 4 March 31st, 2020.
