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Namco Tales Studio

From Alfawiki
Namco Tales Studio Ltd.
Native name
株式会社ナムコテイルズスタジオ
Kabushiki gaisha Namuko Teiruzu Sutajio
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1986; 40 years ago (1986)
DefunctTemplate:End date and age
FateIntegrated into Namco Bandai Games
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Key people
Eiji Kikuchi
ProductsTales franchise
Parent
Websitenamco-talesstudio.co.jp

, initially established in 1986, was a Japanese developer specializing in video game production. The company adopted its current name in 2003 following a partial stake sale by Telenet Japan, which resulted in Namco becoming the majority shareholder. Namco Tales Studio served as the main developer behind the Tales RPG franchise from its beginning. In November 2011, it was revealed that the studio would be dissolved and merged with its publisher, Namco Bandai Games. By February 2012, all 80 employees were integrated into Bandai Namco Studios.

History

Wolf Team, originally headed by Masahiro Akishino, separated from Telenet Japan in 1987 but was reabsorbed in 1990. It later merged with Telenet’s subsidiary Lasersoft, and during Telenet’s 1993 reorganization, Wolf Team was fully incorporated back into Telenet, prompting most of its staff to leave alongside Akishino.

The core team members who remained included programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda, designer Masaki Norimoto, director Joe Asanuma, graphic artist Yoshiaki Inagaki, composer Motoi Sakuraba, and sound designer Ryota Furuya. Wolf Team produced titles such as Sol-Feace and Hiouden: Mamono-tachi tono Chikai, which unfortunately did not achieve commercial success. Additionally, they specialized in adapting laserdisc arcade games for the Sega Mega-CD, including Japan-exclusive titles like Time Gal and Ninja Hayate (internationally released as Revenge of the Ninja).

For the project Tale Phantasia, an idea conceived by Gotanda, the team sought a prominent external publisher. After discussions with Enix, Telenet ultimately partnered with Namco, which required substantial modifications including renaming the game to Tales of Phantasia. Disagreements caused delays that pushed the release from 1994 to late 1995, leading most original staff members to depart and establish tri-Ace in early 1995.

To preserve the lucrative collaboration with Namco on the Tales series, Telenet replenished Wolf Team’s personnel while retaining some freelancers like Motoi Sakuraba. Wolf Team took charge of developing or co-developing nearly every installment in the series. In 2003, Namco acquired majority control and rebranded the company as Namco Tales Studio.

At the time of renaming, ownership was divided with Namco holding 60%, Telenet Japan/Kazuyuki Fukushima owning 34%, and series director Eiji Kikuchi receiving 6%. Kikuchi, who had led Telenet’s game development division for ten years, resigned from Telenet to lead the new entity full-time. On April 1, 2006, following the formation of Bandai Namco Holdings, the remaining shares were purchased from Telenet Japan, increasing Bandai Namco’s stake to 94%. After Telenet declared bankruptcy and ceased operations in October 2007, the Wolf Team name was discontinued as Namco acquired all outstanding shares.

Namco Tales Studio remained responsible for producing the primary "mothership" Tales titles except for two exceptions: Tales of Legendia, developed by Namco’s internal Team Melfes, and Tales of Innocence, created by independent developer Alfa System, which also worked on multiple spin-offs.

In November 2011, it was declared that Tales Studio would be dissolved and merged into its publisher, Namco Bandai Games. By February 2012, all eighty employees had transitioned to work within Bandai Namco Studios.

Developed games

Namco Tales Studio produced games for a variety of gaming systems, such as GameCube, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Title Launch Year Platform
Tales of Phantasia 1995 Super NES
Tales of Destiny 1997 PlayStation
Tales of Eternia 2000 PlayStation
Tales of Destiny 2 2002 PlayStation 2
Tales of Symphonia 2003 GameCube
Tales of Tactics 2004 FOMA 900i
Tales of Rebirth 2004 PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable
Tales of Breaker 2005 FOMA 900i
Tales of Commons 2005 FOMA 900i
Tales of the Abyss 2005 PlayStation 2
Tales of Wahrheit 2006 FOMA 900i
Tales of Destiny Remake 2006 PlayStation 2
Tales of the World: Material Dungeon 2008 FOMA 900i
Tales of Destiny Director's Cut 2008 PlayStation 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World 2008 Wii
Tales of Vesperia 2008 Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Tales of Hearts 2008 Nintendo DS
Tales of Graces 2009 Wii
Keroro RPG: Kishi to Musha to Densetsu no KaizokuTemplate:Ref label 2010 Nintendo DS
Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X 2010 PlayStation Portable
Tales of Graces F 2010 PlayStation 3
Tales of Xillia 2011 PlayStation 3

Notes: 

Only sound team members from Tales Studio contributed

For a comprehensive list, refer to Tales (video game series).

Under the name Wolf Team

External links

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