Valentine’s Day looks a little darker for Persona fans, as Persona 5 will no longer make its February 2017 release.

Just one of the many branches of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, Atlus unveiled the long-awaited Persona 5 for the PS3 and PS4 back in February 2015. Developer and publisher Atlus continues to hold the interest of die-hard fans over two years with the occasional developer-diary broadcasts on Twitch and NicoNico- some of which lasted over 24 hours, and variety of Persona-themed events and announcements including new movies and concerts. Japanese Persona fans received Persona 5 on Sept. 15, however North American and European audiences were expected to see localized versions on a later date- originally 2/14/2017.

Atlus held yet another Persona 5 broadcast on Twitch this afternoon to provide international fans with a much-needed update; to the dismay of some, Altus will delay the official release to April 2017. A statement from today’s broadcast suggests that Atlus is upgrading their QA teams to ensure the North American and European versions are of the highest quality:

“…the Japanese release of Persona 5 smashed all our expectations, and as a company, we decided that we owed our fans the very best effort to make Persona 5 our gold standard in localization. Practically, this means redoubling our QA and localization efforts, even returning to the studio to record previously unvoiced lines.”

Though the delay may come as a blow, Atlus released the new “PS4 Ryuji Sakamoto Special Theme and Avatar Set” this afternoon through the PSN Store. The set will be free to PS4 owners for a limited time.

Persona 5 will release for both the PS3 and PS4 in North America and Europe on 4/7/2017. For those who can’t afford to wait, the title is available for both systems in Japan; Persona 5 is currently the 3rd best-selling game of the PS4 overseas.

Source: Atlus
Image courtesy of Atlus