Tales of Arise is one of the most popular JRPGs of the past year. While fans have been wondering about a possible sequel, Bandai Namco answered this question: no, Tales of Arise will not have a sequel.
Yusuke Tomiwaza, the producer of the game, said that Bandai Namco wasn’t planning on a sequel for Tales of Arise. The team wanted to create a story that could fit into a single game, leaving a “good aftertaste” for players. As the story is complete, it eliminates the need for a sequel.
Bandai Namco wants the next entry in the Tales series to be a completely new story. Tomiwaza says that the studio wants “to continue to take on the challenge of […] acquiring new fans for further expansion of JRPGs.” To do that, “we need to come up with a cutting-edge flagship title that builds on the success of Arise, while also providing an opportunity to rediscover the history of the series.”
Tales of Arise was the seventeenth main entry in the Tales series. Its goal was to revitalize the series and it succeeded: Tales of Arise was praised as one of the best RPGs of the past few years, even winning Best RPG at The Game Awards 2021. Tales of Arise shipped 1.5 million copies in its first month, becoming the fastest-selling title in the series. But that isn’t enough to justify a sequel, as the game didn’t leave any unanswered plot points.
Even though a sequel isn’t “in the cards” at this time, that doesn’t mean Tales of Arise won’t get any new content. The director of the game Hirokazu Kagawa, said that Scarlet Nexus influenced him and his team. The Twitter accounts of both Tales of Arise and Scarlet Nexus shared images about an upcoming collaboration. There is no additional information at the moment, but we can expect more news in the upcoming weeks.