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Tales of Arise's producer wants to see older games in the series localized for Western audiences, but knows it isn't that simple.
Last week, Bandai Namco unveiled Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn, a new paid-for expansion set to release in November, with over 20 hours of new gameplay. Now, Tales of Arise producer Yusuke Tomizawa has addressed bringing older Tales games to Western audiences in a new interview with IGN.
Bringing older Tales games to new audiences is "always actually something on our minds," says Tomizawa. "What are the best formats? The best platforms? Also, should we deliver exactly the same content nowadays?" posits Tomizawa, acknowledging that bringing older games to new audiences isn't a simple matter.
"We'd also like to foster those newcomers who haven't actually had the chance to enjoy those games but started playing the franchise with Arise. We should also provide them access to a full localization," the producer explained. "So if we would like to deliver those old classic catalogs, we need to be fully prepared for those newcomers as well."
A fair few Tales games are stuck on older platforms. Tales of Eternia and Tales of Legendia, for example, are stranded on the PSP and PS2, respectively, and while Tales of the Abyss was previously available for the Nintendo 3DS in the West, Nintendo went and shuttered the handheld device's eShop earlier this year.
Bandai Namco said in April 2022 that there were no plans for a Tales of Arise sequel. Then again, Tomizawa and company originally said around Arise's launch that there wouldn't be DLC or an expansion.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn launches later this year on November 9 across all platforms.
Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at all the games and hefty expansions set to launch later this year.
