Persona 3 Portable's heroine joins Persona5: The Phantom X

Persona 3 Portable's female protagonist is crossing over into Persona5: The Phantom X. The developers confirmed on the game's Steam channel that Kotone Shiomi joins the roster in the 24 September update, arriving with a special P3P x P5X event opening animation and an animated trailer that is already live.

Who is Kotone Shiomi?

Kotone is the female lead of Persona 3 Portable, the PSP version of Persona 3. Picking her instead of the male protagonist, Makoto Yuki, rewrote the social links and gave players a second way through the game's year of school days, dungeon crawls and moonlight. In Persona 3 she fights with a naginata rather than the male lead's sword, which is exactly the detail that makes a crossover with a Phantom Thieves game fun to think about.

What is Persona5: The Phantom X?

The Phantom X, known as P5X to players, is a free-to-play role-playing game developed by ATLUS, SEGA and Perfect World, and published by SEGA. It launched on Steam on 25 June 2025 and builds its story around a fresh cast who steal hearts in the Persona 5 tradition, complete with Palaces, Mementos and the Velvet Room.

Crossovers are the game's speciality, and Persona 3 has been the theme of late. The current event adds Persona 3 Reload-themed completion missions, raises the Thieves Den level cap from 60 to 70 with Persona 3 Reload items and music, and opens stages 26 to 30 in the Velvet Trials.

Which character does P5X get next?

Kotone, in the 24 September update, as an addition to a roster that already blends its own Phantom Thieves with guests from across the series. The announcement lands alongside the ongoing P3R missions and login bonuses, so players who have been sitting out the current event have a reason to log in before she arrives.

Our opinion

This is the crossover that Persona fans have been asking for since The Phantom X first started collecting guests, and it is the right one to pick. Kotone is not a costume swap or a cameo in a cutscene; she is the version of Persona 3 that a good chunk of the audience played first, and giving her a place in the roster is a wink at the people who have been loyal since the PSP days. It is also a reminder of how strange Persona 3 Portable's legacy is: the most distinctive route in one of the series' best-loved games spent years stranded on a handheld. Seeing her share a screen with the Phantom Thieves is a genuinely nice bit of fan service, even if the free-to-play machinery around it will decide how kind the welcome really is.