Namco Bandai Absorbing Tales Subsidiary

Namco Bandai announced today that it plans to absorb its Namco Tales Studio subsidiary at the start of the new year, although it did not give a reason for the move. In a official statement, and as translated by Andriasang, the company said that the employees of the Tales house will be absorbed into the main company on January 1, 2012, and the Tales Studio will then be dissolved. The Namco Tales studio was originally founded in 1986 under the name Wolf Team, and renamed in 2003 when Namco became the majority shareholder. The studio focuses on producing titles in the Tales RPG series, which has proven rather successful. The latest Tales release, Tales of Xillia, sold over half a million copies in its opening weekend earlier this year. There are also a number of Tales games currently in production, including Tales of Kizna, the first social game based on the series. It is not currently clear what the fate of these titles will be following the absorption of the Tales Studio.