Tales Producer Says The Series Could Eventually Make It To Wii U

It's not really about our opinions on whether or not it's a good system; ultimately it becomes a question of, 'What consoles do our fans have?'

Pretty much what decides everything. Not because a dev hates one console maker, or got paid off by another.

As for the Tales games... much like the other big JRPG franchises, they're so stale for me now. It's like Japan has run out of ideas. Xenoblade Chronicles is by far and away the best JRPG I've played since the PS2 era, and nothing else even comes close to it for me. I hope Monolith can repeat the trick for 3DS and Wii U, but apart from XC, their output hasn't exactly been AAA.

So much stupidity...how should the system ever be "more succesful" if each and every studio, dev, publisher and what not says the exact line ? YOU and YOUR games make a system successful. HOW can a system alone be a success ?
Release ONE game on the system, if it sells, continue, if not, call it quits and wait for that "successfulness".
Gosh, stiff like that really makes me angry...How blind can the industry get ?

^^ lol, seriously. It's all going to come down to whether Nintendo's games will make it sell. They probably will, we'll just have to wait forever for that to happen.

Well hopefully one day we get Tales of Wii U. Namco Bandai would be a great developer for Wii U, seeing they did great things with Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

I don't think third parties really want another console to port to. They feel if they say say 2 million copies of a game on two consoles then it's better than selling 2 copies on 3 because porting costs are less.

so the story goes.

Makes me wonder why he's making games for the PS3, then. The 3DS has sold more consoles than the PS3 in Japan...

@Melkaticox Did you even read the article? The majority of the Tales fanbase is based on the PS3, making it the best system to develop for.

@Blaze
And the ONLY reason for that is because they ported the Tales games from the other two consoles over to the PS3. Tales of Vesperia was ported from 360 to PS3. Tales of Graces was ported from Wii to PS3, and back then Wii still had a bigger install base than the PS3. Now PS3 gets two exclusives. PS3 simply couldn't have gotten the Tales install-base it has now if not for the ports. It's been pretty obvious over the entire past 7th generation that the Tales Producer and/or the higher ups in Namco Bandai have a thing for Sony (and no, I'm not being paranoid, this is coming from my observations of the Tales series over the past generation). I'm pretty sure that if they were to develop a Wii U Tales games, it'll be ported to or announced to be ported to PS3 or PS4 within a few months (even if the PS4 has a lower install base).

He said this last time, too, just in different words. Too bad no one else noticed...

@Koto Except those games did poorly on the 360 and Wii, and sold great on the PS3. I just checked the numbers, and both of them sold over 400,000 on the PS3, and barely broke 200,000 on the other systems. The install base was always there.

@Peach64 I actually agree with you. Xenoblade Chronicles was the first JRPG I have seriously enjoyed since the ps2 era as well. As you mentioned, I am not certain if Monolith Soft can strike gold twice in a row. I will remain hopeful though.

Vesperia sold less on the 360 because the system isnt really spread in japan and the west was playing "war game shooter pew pew 3000"
But you cant compare the popularity of the xbox to any nintendo console in japan. I see why making it 360 exclusive may not be the best idea for the series, but there is no reason why it souldnt also be released on the WiiU.
People are talking the WiiU (and nintendo in general) down without proper reason and devs jump on the bandwagon.

And yet to build a fanbase, you need to support a system from the get go...it's not like Namco doesn't have the resources to do, say, a Wii U port of Tales of Xilia. Heck, they supported a console with an almost insignificant fanbase in Japan, why not the Wii U?

"He said the developer has done extensive market research in Japan on who plays Tales games and the results found the majority of fans own a PlayStation 3, leading it to focuses on that system."
"focuses"
Anyways would be totes interested in this game if it came to WiiU. Nintendo had better get on those first party games to boost WiiU success before 3rd parties will jump on. ninty can do it though

If it's as boring as Abyss, then they can keep it.

@Einherjar So, In order for the WiiU to gain more people. more games needs to be announced for it. But In order for the games to be announced for it, there needs to be more people.

Sounds like a lose-lose situation.

Forgive me for speaking my mind, but companies who say this basically want a free ride. They don't take risks anymore. By their survey, PS3 is the most played system for the Tales games. How long ago was this done? Recently? What about when it the PS3 launched? What's going to happen when the PS4 comes out? All the people aren't going to jump on the bandwagon the moment it launches, so technically, it won't be successful either until -gasp- it gets games too.

By not contributing to its success, you're contributing to its failure.

Tales of Madness?????????? D:

OMG Please let it happen.

Hm...if that really was the logic then I wonder why he made Tales games for the Vita when you know the PSP was outselling it in terms of Tales software and hardware units.........................MOAR PSP TALES GAMES!

@Discostew Except that the majority of the Tales fan base since Phantasia has been on Playstation in general, not just the PS3. thats why they usually make Sony's platforms the main priority. Even the original Tales of Symphonia (which we got as a Gamecube game) and several unreleased Tales games are on PS2 or PSP.

As @CanisWolfred said not even a console with an install base as big as the Wii has seen been as successful for them, most of the Tales games that have been released on other consoles seem to have been an attempt to raise interest and/or test the waters. One could argue that a big reason for Tales of Symphonia's success was the lack of competing RPGs on the Gamecube at the time, but then Tales of Graces didn't do very well on the Wii despite "lack of games" being a major problem there too and Japan being the series's biggest market.

@LDXD Yet just look at Persona 4: the Golden. The Tales fan base is another that has been known to import or even buy a console for the series.

Honestly, I fear they won't do anything for the Wii U. I'm hopeful, but Namco gives PS way too much love. It seems every Tales game gets ported eventually to PS2/PS3/PSP/Vita. Hopefully we will see a mothership title make it onto Wii U, not an escort title like Dawn of the New World. That game was broken, the best part of the game was the skits (generally the things everyone skips over).
Maybe SSB4 will make Namco some money and they'll start supporting the Wii U. We can at least hope.

When the next Tails game goes to PS4 though without any knowledge of how many "fans" of tails games there are on that system, can someone please call this guy on his complete BS he is spouting? A console wont be successful without more games. But companies wont put their games on the Wii U because others aren't putting games on it? Im sick to death of this excuse. No one seems to say these things about putting new games onto PS4 or NextBox, Just Nintendo.

@Dpullam
Actually Monolith Soft don't think too highly of Xenoblade. They often consider it an "experiment", where they tried out various ideas to see how it worked out.

With that much confidence and some really great titles under their belt, I really do think their next game will be just as good (likely even better!) than Xenoblade.

@Einherjar

hire this man!!! Which company? Any company that needs logic.

Looks like Tails...

(• _ •)

( • _ •)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

is running scared.

I would love it. either you like JRPGs or you don't. I bet without a doubt if if Namco ported the real Tales of Vesperia and not the beta verison on the Xbox to the NA reigon the Wii U would see an instant sales increase.

Nintendo of America should keep on what they're doing but they should seriously considering targeting a few JRPG devs and studios. cater to the JRPG crowd a bit. Op rainfall proved that enough nintendo fans will support JRPGs

i actually thinks that capcom games suits ps systems more and namco games suits nintendo systems more...

They can help the system become more successful by putting the game on there.

@brucelebnd Xenoblade and The Last Story sold decently well at 830k and 510k respectively yet we still have to see how well Pandora's Tower sells.

Tales of Graces f sits somewhere between Xenoblade and The Last Story in terms of sales (770k) so the demand "seems" to be there but then again it could just be the publicity from Operation Rainfall that pushed sales. There's no guarantee we'd get the same results if a JRPG were released on the Wii without that campaign (especially considering that the original Tales of Graces sold rather poorly in its own region so much so that it sold LESS than Symphonia on the Gamecube).

I really don't have a problem with what he said. They aren't working on ANY next-gen projects seeing as none of them have an install base that warrants pouring the money into yet. The Wii U install base will most certainly grow, and considering Namco Bandai is working with Nintendo on Smash Bros, it is likely they will try to get an exclusive out of the deal as well.

The Gamecube only sold 22 million in its lifetime and it still got 3 exclusive Namco Bandai games (that I remember off of the top of my head). Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and Baten Kaitos Origins.

I would like to see Xillia on Wii U, but if the timing just wouldn't work for a simultaneous release or Sony has dibs on it, it's understandable. Porting Vesperia would be a disaster. Nintendo stands to be huge in Japan this gen with Sony focusing on high-price, high-tech Western-type games and Microsoft being....well, Microsoft.

Japan is surprisingly low-tech and they don't really buy into super high tech things. They still use fax machines, loads of paper in the offices, few homes have heat/AC, and ATM's don't stay operational after 6pm. It's not that they don't have the technology or the capability to have it, they just don't care as much about it.

@LDXD The diffirence is the majority of vita owners is hungry for games and buys everything. Me as vita owner has over 30 games ( Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland and guacamelee just recently). If you don't belief me i will post screenshots of all my games:) Back on topic : I think the majority of Wii U / Nintendo users are always saving up money for games made or published by Nintendo. Often 3rd party games are not being bought at all.... Look at call of duty black ops 2 > A shooter i know horrible but if wii U owners bought the game they could have a sequel and a reason for some other third party studio's to jump on the wii U. But it did really horrible.... SO horrible that i dont think there will be any sequel to it.

@JSuede ATM closed at 6PM? Seriously? Good to know that because in a couple of months i am going to japan.

@LDXD Sorry, I get what your saying now, the way you worded your post sounded like you were taking a cheap shot at the Vita. I agree with you though, given just how close the sales numbers between the two are although the development costs should still be cheaper on the Vita.

@Sanquine Unfortunately your right about that. I have my suspicions that a big part of the problem is due to Nintendo having so many IPs under its belt. They have such a wide variety of quality games that most Nintendo only gamers could probably be perfectly content sticking to first party games and exclusives (which many seem to do).

@Zombie_Barioth Yeah, it are not my thoughts, but a friend of mine is a dedicated Nintendo fan and has everything what Nintendo has to offer. But he just refuses to buy other games than that of Nintendo on his Wii U ( He saves up money for Smash etc). I told him that this was the reason why third party is jumping off ship... Oohw well:) Capcom is all the third party support Nintendo needs ( I am talking about Monster hunter). Currently Monster Hunter is so awesome:D I like the wii U version more than the 3ds version due to the small screen ( i have the regular 3ds... Need to buy the XL but no circle pad pro i think...)

Fair enough. I shall await another awesome entry, then (For the Wii U, of course)

@mariobro4 But it has to start SOMEWHERE ! Look at it that way: Nintendo can deliver as much AAA++ titles as they want, they will still be "Nintendo games". What does that mean ? Fans of nintendo cherish these games as ones, that represent the fun in gaming and rate them amongst the best there is. The general press on the other hand likes to give them the "kiddy game" stigma no matter what they are. We live in a world, where "Little Big Planet" is consideres a "core gamer game" because its released on a "core games console" and has a "brown dominated" color pallet, while games like NSMBU for instance, is consideres to be a game for kids because of its visuals. That they are both platformer games at heart (dont mind the editor of LBP) and that mario ever since dominated that genre has little to no effect here.

Everyone is whining about the third party support, if these games fit on the WiiU or not. And there lies the rats tail:
As long as this stigma exists, nintendos reputation as a serious contender on the market suffers. And as long as this happens, many thirds partys wont recognize the opportunitys this system offers because they fear to be amongst "kiddy games". And as long as THIS happens, the system will be marked as a failure by the press.
If there is no interest -> there are no games -> there is no interest -> there are no games -> [...]
This has to stop somwhere. Someone needs to step up, release a game on the system and judge it by the sales it generates. You cant judge it beforehand, no matter what the genereal Xbox / PS3 centered "professional" press wants you to think about it.

The WiiU is a japanese console from a japanese developer. Poeple who like games made in japan are more likely to also like JRPGs. At least more than, say, the 360, which is more oriented towards the western marked and taste. So there is a very likely possibility, that the WiiU fanbase is also succeptable to JRPGs (remember the SNES days ? "Kiddy" Nintendo was your save heaven for JRPGs that are considered the best among the best even today)

For "'Tales Of' games" read "games".

@Sanquine Yea, that mindset seems all to common these days. I keep seeing people all over saying some variation of "you buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games" whenever a lack of third-party support is brought up, while usually advising others to go elsewhere for third-party games.

One thing I find rather interesting is why most Sony fans aren't in the same boat. Most of the franchises that put Sony on the map were third-party, Sony just recently built up a nice pool of first party games so their fans never learned to rely on them. Post SNES Nintendo's third-party support hasn't been so hot, fueling the fans' over reliance on their games and the age old stigma that you buy a Nintendo for Mario.

What makes thrid party titles atractive is exlusivity. A game released on all thre mayor platforms at the moment (360, PS3, WiiU) is not an instant win for the WiiU. Everyone that is interested in the current "HD gaming" generation should already have a 360 and / or a PS3. So why should they buy a WiiU for, if the game they want also comes out on a console that they already have ?
And not even a shallow, gimmiky use of the WiiUs features isnt neough reason for a pricy console purchase.
What it needs are exclusives, that are crafted AROUND the WiiUs features. We dont necessarily need each and every port of a game. Sure, it would be nice to have them, but think of the larger picture: What the WiiU needs the most is a reason to buy that thjing in the first place, People need a reason to say "sure, if i stay with my PS360, ill get all of those games, but THAT / THESE game(s) are so good, ill need a WiiU for that"
If you have established the system to a wider audience, then youll need to feed it with a lot more games and ports to keep the people. But first you nee dto get them, and to be honest, the WiiU doesnt have that much games for that at the moment,
The WiiU came too late to the party to stand up agains the long running PS360 with the same game pool. It needs to differenciate itself to be recognized. What good is a third system that runs the same games as the other two ?
Why should i buy a system for 400 cash, if it gets games i can get for a system, in bought years ago ?
I doesnt really matter if its a 3rd, 2nd or 1st party developer, what the WiiU needs are games / game series, that differenciate it from the other two consoles and have a reason to be baught ontop of the game systems you already have.
Just focusing on multi console ports is an effective strategy for an audience, that doesnt have one of the 3 mayor systems already, which is pretty small by now.

P.S. Sorry for all the typos. My english writing skills seem to be on vacation today

@Sanquine Yeah....almost all of the ATM's are located inside the banks and are closed to the public when the banks are. Even if they aren't, there is a good chance they won't accept another bank's card (that is nothing like other ATM cards other countries use...no magnetic strip I believe), and they aren't very wide-spread. If you plan on taking a train anywhere, be sure to bring all the cash you'll need.

That's partially why handhelds are such a big deal over there, most people commute by train, so they've got time on their hands. WiFi isn't all that common either so Nintendo has the market cornered because you can play games with people without needing an internet connection....or even multiple cartridges.

I don't understand why so many of you feel third parties should put games out to make the Wii U a success. You call them dumb for not doing so, but surely it's dumb to undertake a project that will more than likely lose you money, in order to make someone else's console a success? There is zero business sense in that at all. It makes complete sense to wait for the console to become a success and then make games on it. It's not their job to lose money in order to make the Wii U a success.

I think we'll see something in a few years, maybe even a Wii U swan song 5 or 6 years from now. The only Nintendo systems to not house a Tales game have been the NES, Gameboy, N64 & (I suppose, if you really want to get technical...) Virtual Boy.

I want a Tales game for the Wii U. Maybe in a few years, the U will get Tales of Xillia 2. [...probably wishful thinking on my part though....]

@Jamouse I truly hope you turn out to be correct. I will remain skeptical but hopeful for now.

@Einherjar You yourself should prefer these games to be released on PS3 instead. Just think, what's the likelihood of it being localized for the west on an ailing console? even slimmer than usual. I'm sure you must realize Europe is often ignored when it comes to such games, so at least with PS3 you can import the game when/if they ever decide to.

@Einherjar You state a good point. They can at least try do an enhanced port of one of their tales games just to test the waters of the Wii U first.

PS3 is still selling quite well in Japan. Tales of Xillia has been reviewed as perhaps the best Tales game to come out since the Symphonia/Abyss days, so I can imagine there's some value in keeping the Tales series exclusive, if Sony can help it.

@Tysamu Exactly my thoughts ! I do understand, that devs wont bring their games to a console, that no one bought. That is entirely plausible.
But branding the WiiU with that stigma without releasing a single game on it top test, if that console audience likes those games is just stupid.

@Doma Dont get me wrong. Im happy that these games reach us at all, but that wasnt the point of my argument. I was simply about the fact, that there is NO real reason, why "Tales of" schould not be released on the WiiU.

@Doma In this case, I'd agree, because honestly, what are the Tales developers going to do with the Wii U's capabilities anyways? Put the status screen and battle commands on the touch screen? That would be nice, but that alone is not all the GamePad can do, so allowing them to concentrate on their traditional design methods better fits into the Playstation environment.

I guess Nintendo shouldn't bother making games for the Wii U, because they should wait till the Wii U becomes a success, otherwise it's too big a business risk.

Also Namco releases their Tales games for PS3 does a survey and finds out people play Tales games on the PS3. What a discovery!!!

Anyway, I don't care for the Tales series.

@Einherjar Just wanted to give you my support for your post #2. Exactly, right.

In the end I think it doesn't matter what Nintendo does, third-parties will find a way not to support them. They all seem to hate Nintendo for various reasons. Maybe it's Nintendo's quality/work ethic?

Ever since Xillia, the Tales series has been dead to me, but Hideo Baba's argumentation just makes no sense - the PS3 was the first successful console to have received a Tales game internationally (Tales of Graces f), while other entries could've been more successful if they were marketed differently:

• Tales of Symphonia on PS2 or larger support for GC version
• international release for Tales of the Abyss, Hearts, Innocence and Graces (Wii version) and all other unlocalized ones
• port Tales games to consoles of the same company

Their stupid policies and the awful Xillia plot really made me give up on them.

@Zombie_Barioth Do be clear... I am on the same boot.. I buy a Nintendo console for Nintendo games... Maybe its because third party games do not have the standard of Nintendo games. I noticed this on the wii, Zelda was superb, but the overall 3rd party support really sucked donkey balls:S

@ThreadShadow It's because of money. "Hate" has nothing to do with how a company runs. They honestly think they won't make back their investments if they supported Nintendo, since Nintendo isn't showing the results they need to garner their trust. If you disagree with their reasoning, that's fine. But that's exactly what it is: Reason. So please don't spout bullcrap like "They don't want like their work ethic or their good quality products" when that has nothing to do with anything here, regardless of whether or not there's even the slightest chance that it's true.

@Einherjar And they already said they'll release on the Wii U when it's doing better. They'll test the waters when the time is right, because Tales of is a console RPG - a Multi-Million dollar investment. You don't "test the waters" with an RPG when you'd basically need a large portion of the audience to buy your product in order to make back your investment. (For the record, Microsoft got involved with Tales of Vesperia, and it's been implied several times that it only ever released on that platform because of Microsoft's involvement). I think once Nintendo releases X and Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei, and see how well they do, then, and only then will they finally start bringing RPGs like Tales to the Wii U.

While I think Namco has done some good things in regards to fighters, their policies on localizing and marketing Tales games (RPGs in general) are AWFUL. If they even add Japanese voices and subtitles as DLC (which would be scummy in the 1st place), I'll think about a purchase.