Challenge SEGA approached us to produce a unique AR filter for the bundled release of Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable. Having previously created successful filters for SMTV and Persona 5, this time round we wanted to go further - to not only develop a filter that could promote both titles within the same experience, but would also creatively utilize the newest AR technology on social platforms.

Idea Demons are a key feature in the Persona universe, and have unique affinities, skills, and emotional natures. In both P3P and P4G, each character must confront their Shadow Self, and accept this manifestation of negative thoughts, twisted desires, and conflicting emotions to summon their true Persona. With this, we saw an opportunity to combine these two elements with AR facial tracking technology.

Our AR filter utilized the emotions and interactions present in both games by leveraging users’ emotional responses to summon a Persona. Faced with their Shadow Self, they were prompted to display a specific emotion (happy, sad, angry) with their face. A gauge was filled with these facial expressions, as the mirror reflecting the user’s twisted self became more and more distorted. When filled, the mirror shattered, to reveal a character’s Persona from P3P/P4G based on the emotion displayed.

Results