Fans Determined Namco Bandai to Localize Tales of Graces

Publisher Namco Bandai has revealed that it is careful to take into account the feedback coming from the fan base before deciding which titles it will localize for launch on Western markets, pushing Tales of Graces as an example of this approach.

Hideo Baba, who is the producer working on the Tales video game series, has stated that, “We have to receive requests from our US or EU branches first before we can decide to bring something to the western markets. The voices from fans are very important. The end users of the games are the fans, and our local branches hear them through Twitter or Facebook and take it into their decisions.”

Tales of Graces is currently set to arrive on the PlayStation 3 home console from Sony on August 31 in Europe and has been available in North America on the same platform since March 13.

The Japanese release of the same game has been available since December 2 of 2010.

Baba added, “I’d like to release future Tales games at the same time, or nearer the same time as Japan. When Graces began development we didn’t have a plan to localise it.”

It’s not clear whether Namco Bandai will directly ask the player base to vote on which games are brought over to the West or whether the company plans to first see how they perform in Japan before making a move.

Tales of Xillia was launched on the PlayStation 3 in Japan during September 2011 and the publisher currently has plans to bring it to both North America and Europe during 2013.

Xillia 2, a direct sequel, is set to arrive on November 1 on the Japanese market and Namco Bandai is not yet saying anything about a possible release on other markets.

The new Tales game offers a deeper story and a more complex cast of characters.

Via: Fans Determined Namco Bandai to Localize Tales of Graces