Seeking mobile success is a familiar “tale” for companies that traditionally publish console games.
Japanese game publisher Bandai Namco, known for games like Pac-Man, announced today that the free-to-play Tales of Link has launched for iOS and Android. This a mobile entry in the company’s popular Tales series of role-playing games. The mobile market was worth $34.8 billion in 2015 (according to market research firm Newzoo).
Publishers that traditionally make games for consoles are trying to get a piece of that growing mobile market by using its known brands. We’ve seen Square Enix do the same with games like Final Fantasy: Record Keeper. Bandai Namco has made Tales games for mobile before, including 2014’s Tales of Asteria, although that title never saw a release outside of Japan.
Tales of Link will feature characters across the franchise, which started in 1995 with Tales of Phantasia. According to Bandai Namco, the Tales series has sold 16 million copies.