Former NTS Staff
 · Roles dissolved
 · Staff lost (25 confirmed)
 · Veteran staff in question
 · Veteran staff still there

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Former NTS Staff

After the dissolution of Namco Tales Studio not all staff was moving into the Bandai Namco headquarter, first as part of NBGI and then of BNSI. The progress included the loss of a lot of Wolfteam/Tales series veterans which may have an effect on the direction the series is heading.

Roles dissolved

Development of Tales games always has been highly structured, with works on planning, technology, graphics, sounds etc. happening in different dedicated groups. The kind of missing involvement of former NTS staff hints on what areas of expertises were deemed superfluous.

• Tales of Xillia 2
  • Event Sounds, replaced by the BN Foley Sound staff
  • Skit, Cut-ins, 2D Illustration, replaced by Ufotable staff

Staff lost (25 confirmed)

The later NTS staff numbers suggest around 50 employees that left before and with the dissolution, though not all of them may have been development staff. Listed below are the persons that are confirmed to not be working for BNSI, their roles, since when they worked at Wolfteam/Tales Studio, their new employee, as well as their games. Work in progress, thus incomplete.

• Kazuya Ishizuka (Project Lead, Game Design, Scenario) since April 1991, went to CyberAgent
  • ToDPS1, ToPPS1, ToP:ND, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToG, ToGf
• Isao Kadowaki (Management) since ~1992
  • ToR, ToDPS2, ToG, ToGf
• Yasuyuki Sawadaishi (Art Direction, Concept Design, Map Design) since ~1993, went to cojica
  • ToPSFC, ToDPS1, ToPPS1, ToE, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToG
• Yuji Kanbara (Event Direction, Planning, Map Design) since ~1993, whereabouts unknown
  • ToPSFC, ToE, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToH
• Takashi Shimano (3D Modelling, Animation) since ~1997
  • ToD, ToE, ToS, ToR, TotA, ToV, ToG, ToX
• Masato Hotta (Map Design) since ~2000, whereabouts unknown
  • ToE, ToD2, ToR, ToD-R, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Masahiro Abe (Planning) since ~2000, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToS-R, ToG
• Nobuyuki Sawada (Script, Planning) since ~2002, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToS, ToR, ToD-R, ToS-R, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Mituru Arai (Character Design) since ~2002, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToR, ToD-R, ToV, ToH, ToG, NDX, ToGf, ToX
• Fumie Yuzawa née Humie Zennyoji (Map Design) since ~2002, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToR, ToD-R, ToV, ToH, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Tomoko Watanabe (Animation, Monster Design, Character Design) since ~2002, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToR, ToD-R, ToV, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Hisamitsu Baba (Map Design) since ~2002, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD2, ToR, ToD-R, ToV, ToH, ToG, ToX
• Go Murai (Planning, Concept Design) since August 2002, went to Shift
  • ToS, TotA, ToS-R
• Shinichi Yamaguchi (Monster Design) since ~2003, whereabouts unknown
  • ToS, TotA, ToV, ToG, ToX
• Hiroshi Tamura (Event Sounds, Sound Effects, Music) since ~2004, went to xxxcxx
  • everything from ToR to ToX, plus Keroro RPG
• Asao Furukawa (2D Character Illustration, Cut-ins, System Graphics) since ~2005, went to CyberAgent
  • ToDPS2, ToS-R, ToV, ToH, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Takashi Mizushima (Programmer) since ~2005, whereabouts unknown
  • TotA, ToV, ToVPS3, ToG, ToX, ToX2
• Yuji Onishi (Animation) since ~2005, whereabouts unknown
  • TotA, ToV, ToVS, ToG, ToGf, ToX
• Maika Matsui (2D Illustration, System Graphics, Cut-ins) since ~2006, went to DeNA
  • ToDPS2, ToS-R, ToH, NDX, ToG, ToGf
• Yuuichirou Takada (Character Design) since ~2006, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD-R, ToV, ToH, ToG, NDX, ToX
• Yasuhiko Tanaka (Character Design) since ~2006, whereabouts unknown
  • ToD-R, ToV, ToH, ToX
• Kouichi Fujikawa (Effect Graphics Designer) since ~2008, went to GameFreak
  • ToS-R, ToH, ToG, NDX, ToX
• Eri Minemura (Character Design) since ~2008, whereabouts unknown
  • ToS-R, ToG, ToX
• Yutaka Aihara (Animation) since ~2008, whereabouts unknown
  • ToV, ToG, ToX
• Noriaki Inui (Animation) since ~2008, whereabouts unknown
  • ToV, ToG, ToX

Veteran staff in question

Long serving series staff that may or may not have left.

• Ryuichi Ishizawa (Lead Programmer) since ~1991
  • ToDPS1, ToPPS1, ToP:ND, ToD2, ToR, ToPPSP, ToDPS2, ToG, ToGf
• Hirofumi Matsuo (Monster Design, Character Design) since ~1992
  • ToDPS1, ToPPS1, ToE, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToV, ToH, ToG
• Atsushi Horiguchi (Sound Effects, Debug) since ~1998
• Seika Arai (Graphics Design) since ~ 1999
  • ToE, ToS, ToR, TotA, ToV, ToX
• Aki Sawadaishi (Art Direction, Map Design) since ~2000
  • ToE, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToH
• Toshihiro Kimura (Field Programmer) since ~2000
  • ToP:ND, ToD2, ToR, ToDPS2, ToG, ToGf

Veteran staff still there

• Katsutoshi Sato (Lead Programmer) since ~1994
  • ToDPS1, ToE, ToS, ToS-R, ToV, ToG, NDX
• Ai Hatano (Effect Graphics Designer) since ~2008, whereabouts unknown
  • ToS-R, ToH, ToG, NDX, ToGf, ToX, ToX2