{"id":41884,"date":"2024-12-23T13:11:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T04:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=41884"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:45:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:45:31","slug":"nihon-falcom-is-remaking-the-trails-series-to-battle-its-growing-reputation-as-a-niche-franchise-according-to-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nihon-falcom-is-remaking-the-trails-series-to-battle-its-growing-reputation-as-a-niche-franchise-according-to-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Nihon Falcom is remaking the Trails series to battle its growing reputation as a \u201cniche\u201d franchise, according to president\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nihon Falcom recently announced that <strong>Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter<\/strong>, a full 3D remake of the Trails\u2019 series first entry, will be getting a <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-the-1st-to-get-a-simultaneous-worldwide-release-on-switch-ps5-and-steam-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">simultaneous worldwide release<\/a> in 2025 on PS5, Switch and Steam. In a shareholders meeting held on December 19, the company\u2019s president Toshihiro Kondo spoke about why Nihon Falcom decided to remake the title, why it has taken 20 years to do so, and whether Trails fans can expect the other games to get the same treatment in the future.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter - Announcement Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gd9j_NWZGG8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by independent journalist <a href=\"https:\/\/michsuzuki.hatenablog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Suzuki Online<\/a>, Kondo told shareholders that it has taken a long time to get round to remaking the roots of the Trails series because of the company\u2019s size. \u201cNihon Falcom is not a big company \u2013 we only have 64 employees, which is why we\u2019ve inevitably had to devote our resources to making the latest Kai no Kiseki and Ys entries, as well as other titles.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, as the Trails franchise became increasingly niche, with a declining number of new players, Kondo realized that it was necessary to breathe new life into the series. \u201cWhen people come up to me and ask, \u201cI want to get into the series, where should I start?,\u201d I sometimes don\u2019t know what to tell them,\u201d he admits. Factors like the franchise\u2019s variable availability across platforms and the nature of the games themselves make it hard to recommend a definitive Trails title to play first.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241219-41696-001.jpg\" alt=\"The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 1st combat\" class=\"wp-image-41702\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241219-41696-001.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241219-41696-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241219-41696-001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake will give newcomers an accessible entry point. Not only that, but the upcoming game is also intended as \u201ca message to longtime fans who haven\u2019t played in a while or have grown a bit distant from the series.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By bringing back the first title, Nihon Falcom hopes to \u201crevitalize the Trails series, which has grown niche in recent years,\u201d Kondo commented. In addition, he notes that the remake is Falcom\u2019s response to growing concerns among Japanese game companies that the RPG genre is declining. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for subsequent other early Trails titles like Trails in the Sky SC and 3rd, Kondo says that Nihon Falcom hasn\u2019t yet decided whether they will get their own remakes, but that the company would love to keep going with the project if Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter turns out to be a success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is scheduled to be released for PS5, Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2025.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nihon Falcom&#8217;s president Toshihiro Kondo talks about the reasons behind the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake and other potential Trails remakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":41699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-41884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nihon Falcom is remaking the Trails series to battle its growing reputation as a \u201cniche\u201d franchise, according to president\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nihon Falcom&#039;s president Toshihiro Kondo talks about the reasons behind the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake and other potential Trails remakes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nihon-falcom-is-remaking-the-trails-series-to-battle-its-growing-reputation-as-a-niche-franchise-according-to-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nihon Falcom is remaking the Trails series to battle its growing reputation as a \u201cniche\u201d franchise, according to president\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nihon Falcom&#039;s president Toshihiro Kondo talks about the reasons behind the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake and other potential Trails remakes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nihon-falcom-is-remaking-the-trails-series-to-battle-its-growing-reputation-as-a-niche-franchise-according-to-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-23T04:11:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T01:45:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241219-41696-header2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nihon Falcom is remaking the Trails series to battle its growing reputation as a \u201cniche\u201d franchise, according to president\u00a0 - 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