The last Tales release in North America was Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World on November 11, 2008. Since then, Western fans of the long-running Japanese RPG series have heard little to nothing from Namco Bandai. Following the release of Dawn of the New World, there's been a number of unsettling signs, such as Peter Garza, the localization manager for Tales beginning with Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo GameCube, leaving the company and the recent layoffs of personnel in their North American branches.
When the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia was announced last April, many hopes were dashed when rumors about a possible localization came and went. Although there were no localization rumors for the Wii version of Tales of Graces, fans of the series were still left wondering what the future of the series would be in the West, as two of the mainline console games in the franchise had been passed over.
With Tales of Graces now on the PS3, thanks to the recent release of Tales of Graces f, many have been left wondering which version Namco Bandai would release in the West. For those who analyze the port, there's a likely chance that Namco Bandai might have other plans, namely a Wii version of Tales of Graces f. There are some reports (such as this one, although the validity of the article is in question) that this exact idea might happen, more or less. So what is the likelihood this outcome could become reality?
In yesterday's first part of this article, we detailed the recent events surrounding Namco Bandai's postings on Namco Games's Facebook wall and the misconceptions surrounding comments that it would be incredibly easy for the company to release the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia. This second part details what both sides can do to help release more Tales games in the west.
What Namco Bandai needs to realize with the Tales series is that while it might not be as big of a juggernaut as other RPGs such as Final Fantasy or the company's very own Tekken franchise, there is a very passionate fan base, much like the fan bases for Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei and NIS America's Disgaea franchises.
The company also needs to realize that part of the lackluster sales can be attributed to two factors: release dates and fan outreach. One such example of the former would be Tales of the Abyss's release in North America. Namco Bandai released the title mere weeks before Final Fantasy XII and had little-to-no advertising, with only a few websites having advertisements for the game, compared to Square Enix's mammoth advertising for the their title. With Square Enix pushing out a limited edition version of Final Fantasy XII, many gamers were forced to pick one of the two and many forgoed picking up Tales of the Abyss if they happened to noticed it. The lackluster sales that followed only helped to push the game to the back of the store, furthering hampering its sales.
Keep on reading for more of the second part of the article.
Late last month Namco Bandai's Japanese branch revealed a series of new Tales games, one of which being Tales of Graces f, a PS3 port of the original Wii version which includes a plethora of new additions and updates. After a small number of fans posted on Namco Games, the branch of the company responsible for causal mobile and PC releases, the company posted the following response on their wall:
Firstly, thank you all for your excitement around the series. We also love the series here at Namco of America and are working with our Japan counterparts to determine if we'll see US releases for these games. Unfortunately, we don't currently have any plans to bring Tales of Graces to the US. If this changes, we'll let you know as soon as we can!
For those who follow the series and the company, Namco Bandai has normally disregarded fan responses to the Tales series, so to have the company acknowledge the fans, let alone comment on talking to their Japanese branch, which has control over what titles the North American branch can and cannot publish, was a welcome sign indeed. Shortly after this announcement, a petition on PlayStation.Blog Share for Sony to help localize both the PS3 and PSP Tales titles was posted, along with a plethora of wall posts on the Facebook wall which totaled over 300 in just a few days time.
Keep on reading for more information, as well as details for how to let Namco Bandai hear your voice on the matter.
Loading
Hi, Guest 
