Tales Studio is dead

Last summer, Tales producer Makoto Yoshizumi obliquely tweeted, "Meetings and conferences, sleepiness and struggle, it was a day of live or die." That day has come. The Tales Studio is no more.

The Namco Tales Studio is the developer behind Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Destiny and Tales of Vesperia. The studio was opened in 1986 and is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai. The Tales series has been spun off to anime with Tales of Vesperia: First Strike in late 2009.

Last summer, it was revealed that the studio's debt has piled up so that it has surpassed the studio's total assets, making the developer insolvent. The TaLes Studio accumulated a debt of 21 million dollars and posted an annual loss of one million dollars.

2010 was a rough year for the studio. Early that year, one Tales game was even recalled.

At the time, I thought no way would Namco shutter the Tales Studio. I was wrong. The studio will be dissolved and swallowed up by its parent company, Namco Bandai. The Tales Studio's story is over.

However, don't expect Namco to kill off Tales games. Expect more Tales games. Always expect Tales games.