Like any other games, a male protagonist has been a permanent thing in Persona 5. However, it can't be denied that some fans want to see something different. Not necessarily significant, but at least a complete turn from typical character gender. Simply put, they want to see a female playable character. Unfortunately for them, this isn't something that the game director wants to pursue.
According to Polygon, Persona 5 director, Katsura Hashino doesn't see any significance for a female lead to exist in his game. Interestingly, he has a solid excuse for doing so. He explained that adding the said character is synonymous to a great amount of work. Hence, players will have to settle with a male character.
That to put an option of selecting a female character, the developers of Persona 5 will have to "cut out other things." Why? That's because they have to compensate for the overall workload. And when it comes to such scenario, Hashino iterated that they usually deemed it not worthy.
As for the question on how such addition can become a rigorous task for the Persona 5 developers, Hashino didn't offer an answer. In Persona 3, however, players do have the option to go with either a boy or girl character. And by the looks of it, one may truly understand why the director didn't pursue the aforesaid gender. One primary concern is the possible difference in relationships, which, in one way or another, will mean more write-ups to be made. Let alone the designing element, which has to be entirely new.
Persona 5 boasts distinctive, romantic storyline along with some interesting character-based interactions. Persona 3, on the other hand, relies on being a well-suited game for a female hero. Hashino, nonetheless, offered another reason. He mentioned that they have always wanted a female character -- if they pursued -- to come from a big city and transition to a small town. Apparently, they find this as something that can easily be portrayed or delivered by a male character.
Whether or not Persona 5 could have benefitted more from a female protagonist, the success it acquired today cannot be undone. GameSpot reports that the game has already managed to ship at least 1.5 million of copies worldwide. There's no word, however, as to how this figure can be compared to the past numbers from the previous entries in the franchise.
