Namco Tales Studio

From Aselia, the Tales wiki

Started as a joint venture by Namco and Telenet Japan, Namco Tales Studio Ltd. was founded in March 2003 and is dedicated entirely to creating Tales games. In doing so the Tales staff, previously working as 1. Development Dept. of Telenet Japan, was moved closer to the Tales series publisher Namco while still staying a separate entity. The first Tales games released under the Namco Tales Studio label were the GBA port of Tales of Phantasia and later on that year Tales of Symphonia, which was a great sucess both in Japan and elsewhere. Since then, Namco Tales Studio has become the main developer of the games in the Tales series.

[edit] Teams

The Namco Tales Studio started with a division into two teams, with the first being the series veterans Team Destiny and the second being the newly formed Team Symphonia. They took care of the series' 2D and 3D titles respectively until the graphic staff of the teams converged more and more. With the release of Tales of Graces Team Destiny also moved to 3D games, and the difference between both teams is one of the leading game designers and programmers. With the release of Tales of Hearts previously secondary Team Destiny design and graphic staff collaborated with some Team Symphonia programmers to form a new 2D team (Team Hearts) which is expected to stay as well.

[edit] Shares

Namco Bandai initially owned 60% of the Namco Tales Studio, while Telenet Japan owned 34%, and Tales series director Eiji Kikuchi owned 6%. Telenet Japan sold the remaining stakes in 2006 prior to going bankrupt in 2007. Namco Bandai now owns all stakes in Tales Studio.

[edit] External Links

Official Namco Tales Studio Website