Namco Tales Studio Near Bankruptcy

[lisalover1]

Terrible news for all fans of Namco Bandai's "Tales of" series of games: Namco Tales Studio, the subsidiary of Namco responsible for making the series, has lost a lot of money, and is almost bankrupt. The studio has a total current debt of over 21 million dollars, and is losing a million every year. Many speculate that Namco Bandai will close down the studio, and cease production on any and all new Tales games. What does this mean? It sucks shit, that's what it means! If Namco really thinks a series can succeed by only releasing its games in one country, they are horribly mistaken. North America has seen less than half of all released Tales games, and I can count all the series' games released in Europe on one hand. Japan only has so many potential buyers for a game, and the population is very small compared to other regions. Namco Bandai, get your head out of your isolationist ass and allow the release of some fucking Tales games!

Link [Warning, NSFW]: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/06/2 ... es-doomed/

[slowslow325]

I've never even heard of that series. Hmmm. So is the whole company going bankrupt or just that part of it?

[pepharytheworm]

I've never even heard of that series. Hmmm. So is the whole company going bankrupt or just that part of it?

They had a few hits in America namely Tales of Symphonia GCN. Its an action RPG, that still goes to a battle screen. If you like RPGs check them out they are pretty enjoyable.
Here's the ones released in the US:
Main Series:
Tales of Phantasia - GBA
Tales of Destiny - PS1
Tales of Eternia ( called tales of Destiny II in the US, we never got the actual tales of destiny II) - PS1
Tales of Symphonia - GCN
Tales of Legendia - PS2
Tales of the Abyss - PS2
Tales of Vesperia - Xbox360

Non-main series:
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology - PSP
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Wii



Well there goes Tales of Graces and all the DS ones which I really wanted.

[dlmvii]

Terrible news for all fans of Namco Bandai's "Tales of" series of games: Namco Tales Studio, the subsidiary of Namco responsible for making the series, has lost a lot of money, and is almost bankrupt. The studio has a total current debt of over 21 million dollars, and is losing a million every year. Many speculate that Namco Bandai will close down the studio, and cease production on any and all new Tales games. What does this mean? It sucks shit, that's what it means! If Namco really thinks a series can succeed by only releasing its games in one country, they are horribly mistaken. North America has seen less than half of all released Tales games, and I can count all the series' games released in Europe on one hand. Japan only has so many potential buyers for a game, and the population is very small compared to other regions. Namco Bandai, get your head out of your isolationist ass and allow the release of some fucking Tales games!

Link [Warning, NSFW]: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/06/2 ... es-doomed/

As much as I would love to have more localized Tales games, they just don't sell well here. Very, very few JRPGs sell any decent amount of copies in america. You can't say this is because they are isolationists or something silly like that, it probably just does not make financial sense to translate (and re-voice!) some of these games, because they will probably not recoup their losses.

Like I said, it makes me very, very sad, but this is more because of the tastes of american gamers than anything else.

[Dakinggamer87]

This is terrible news as I'm a huge fan of the Tales series..

[lisalover1]

It's a shame we probably won't get any more of these games. The Tales series is likely the best Japanese Action RPG series out there, with a ton of great games and gameplay concepts, and now it is all going to waste. And I really wanted Vesperia PS3 and Graces...

I found a quote on the Namco Tales forums that summarizes the company perfectly:

To put it bluntly, [Namco] is xenophobic, overconfident and narrow minded. A stereotypical Japanese big business. Like Sega were, back when they brought out the Saturn.

[slowslow325]

Ohhh! I've heard of those games, I've just never thought they were related, let alone a series!

[weasels]

ah fuck, i enjoy the tales games a lot. hope they make it through this.

[the7k]

It is a shame. I would have bought Tales of Vesperia if it had come to the PS3 at the very least on account of there being very little in the way of RPGs on the PS3 - but lo and behold, they said "NO! F*** you! Why the hell would we port this game to another console that would actually appreciate it, even when all the translation is done?"

If Namco loses Tales... Between the endless Katamari rehashes, the Tekken and Soul Calibur entries that get progressively & exponentially worse and worse, the Naruto/One Piece/Dragonball Z/etc. crap, they don't really have a whole lot worth boasting about. Sure, these series do well financially, but they're about as unique and interesting as ... uh, something that's mass produced in a factory and lacks any heart or soul.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Tales series, but at least it was something that gave them flavor. I mean, hell - it's not like it was impossible for a JRPG to do well. Look at Xenoblade.

[c0r33]

At least splatter house is on its way