Bandai Namco announced a new special stream for the 25th anniversary of JRPG series Tales Of, with "the latest information on the series", meaning we could be getting Tales of Arise news. The stream will be held on December 15 at 0600 ET (Click here for a time zone conversion table). YouTube and Persiscope pages for the stream will be up at a later date.The stream will also include new information on upcoming goods, events, and for the mobile games Tales of Asteria, Tales of the Rays, and Tales of Crestoria. The stream will also include multiple developers of the Tales of series looking back and sharing exclusive development stories. Lastly, multiple musical performances will be held.
The Tales of 25th anniversary stream will feature:
- Chiaki Matsuzawa as MC,
- Tales of Producer, Tales of Arise Producer Yusuke Tomizawa.
- Game Journalist Riko Kushida.
- Junko Iwao (Mint in Tales of Phantasia).
- Chihiro Suzuki (Luke in Tales Of The Abyss).
- KÅhei Amasaki (Kanata in Tales of Crestoria).
- Music band Deen.
- Composer Motoi Sakuraba
- Composer Go Shiina
- Singer Songwriter Misono
Moreover, four key and longtime developers of the Tales of Series will be present:
Shinichiro Okamoto. One of the main creators of the series since Phantasia.
Makoto Yoshizumi, One of the Producers of the series. From May 2002 to 2007, when he then switched to "General Producer".
Yoshito Higuchi, Director on Destiny 2, Symphonia. Chief Director on Abyss, Vesperia.
Tatsuro Udo, 2D map Programmer on Phantasia. Battle Programmer on Eternia, Destiny 2, Rebirth, Destiny PS2 Remake, Graces. Lead game Designer on Zestiria. Battle Game Design on Berseria.
Here's our analysis on what kind of announcements this Tales of 25th anniversary stream could contain:
Overall, this looks like a talk show to have fun reminiscing about the series, rather than a place where we'll get big announcements. Tales of Arise currently has no release date estimate. I doubt we'll hear one on this stream. However, we could learn a bit more on the game.
Most notably, seeing so many artists will be on stream, it'll very likely the theme song of either Tales of Arise or another game will be announced. It's possible Bandai Namco will announce the trademarked Tales of Luminaria and reveal its theme songs.
Bandai Namco didn't announce yet who is handling Tales of Arise's OST. It's possible both Motoi Sakuraba and Go Shiina are working on it.
Even if the stream includes no new information on Tales of Arise, it's very likely Yusuke Tomizawa will at least share a quick development update.
Lastly, we could get announcements or hints towards remakes or remasters of past games. There are plenty of Tales of games who never left Japan too. Bandai Namco teased announcements for the 25th anniversary after all.
Whatever happens, we'll be here with a full summary of the stream, so stay tuned.
Tales of Arise was first announced at E3 2019. The game is, for now, planned for PC, PS4, Xbox One. First planned for 2020, Arise ended up indefinitely delayed, but then was trademarked in Australia. Several goods have been launched for the 25th anniversary. In related news, Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi's Slayers is having a collab crossover event with Tales of The Rays.