Namco Bandai’s Tales of franchise has to be one of the most beloved JRPGs for games, standing right next to Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. However the only problem that most gamers have with the games is that a majority of them have not seen a Western release. It wasn’t until the release of Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2 and the HD remake of Tales of Symphonia that Hideo Baba, the series producer, and his team understood the demand for more Tales of games in the West. Which brings us to the following image:
It seems that Namco Bandai has struck a deal with Gamestop to bring the Vita game Tales of Hearts R exclusively to Gamestop. First off, what is Tales of Hearts R. Tales of Hearts R is an enhance port of the DS game of the same name for the Vita. Since this one never came to the West, I haven’t the faintest clue on what the story of the game is, however judging by the trailer that was released last year for the Japanese version, fans will be pleased:
So where does Gamestop fit in all of this? If you can recall, back in 2012 Nintendo finally gave into fan demand to localize Xenoblade Chronicles, one of the three games under the Operation Rainfall fan campaign. Nintendo then stuck a deal with Gamestop as the only retail store to sell Xenoblade Chronicles new. And we all know how gamers feel about Gamestop, but better to have the game available rather than not have it at all.
Now Tales of Hearts R could be in the same position. However there are a few other possibilities for the game to come to the West without Gamestop involvement. Namco could just sell the game exclusively online in their own store and they can also just publish the game digitally. Either way, until Namco makes an announcement this is just all speculation.
