When Namco Bandai confirmed Tales of Graces F for North America during their press event, Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing, mentioned there were over 50,000 requests asking for Tales. The announcement was teased as a puzzle, which they estimated would take 40 hours for one person to solve. It was cracked by Tales fans in nine and half hours.
"There is a strong existing fanbase. The buzz became too big to ignore, in a sense. Our company’s new theme and challenge is how to embrace community," Makoto Iwai, Bandai Label President, said in a Siliconera interview.
"It’s been a challenge for the JRPG in the US market. As long as they are loyal to this title, why don’t we embrace them? That’s a starting point." Since no platform(s) were announced I asked Iwai to clarify if Tales of Graces F would be released on PlayStation 3 and Wii. "We’ll see. We’re working on it. We’ll make the announcement later on," Iwai replied.
Iwai also spoke to us about Namco Bandai’s internal studios and partnerships with developers like From Software and CyberConnect2. Check back next week for that part of the discussion.
