Namco Tales Studio is the developer behind Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Destiny and Tales of Vesperia. The studio has seen better days.
A recent financial report has revealed that debt for the studio has piled up so that it has surpassed the studio's total assets, making the developer insolvent. The Tails Studio has accumulated a debt of 21 million dollars and has posted an annual loss of one million dollars.
"Meetings and conferences, sleepiness and struggle, it was a day of live or die," Tales producer Makoto Yoshizumi obliquely tweeted on June 18. He goes on to say that next week (this week) will be extremely busy and that from henceforth, "it's going to be gloomy".
Things have not been good recently for the Tales series, I honestly don't think Namco will shutter the studio. The Tales role-playing games still have a strong brand name in Japan, and it was a mistake to think the studio could compete with both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. A reorganization and refocusing seems more likely.
The studio was opened in 1986 and is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai. The Tales series has been spun off to anime with Tales of Vesperia: First Strike in late 2009. The most recent Tales game, Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X, will be released on the PSP this August in Japan.
Tales Studio Near Bankruptcy – Tales Series Doomed? [Sankaku Complex NSFW via GoNintendo]