{"id":55150,"date":"2025-12-19T15:30:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55150"},"modified":"2025-12-19T15:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:30:09","slug":"our-player-base-was-shrinking-and-the-development-team-needed-a-breather-trails-producer-explains-why-the-series-is-getting-remakes-while-fans-await-storys-concl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/our-player-base-was-shrinking-and-the-development-team-needed-a-breather-trails-producer-explains-why-the-series-is-getting-remakes-while-fans-await-storys-concl\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOur player base was shrinking, and the development team needed a breather.\u201d Trails producer explains why\u00a0the series is getting remakes while\u00a0fans await story\u2019s conclusion\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Yesterday, Nihon&nbsp;Falcom&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/trails-in-the-sky-2nd-chapter-to-get-a-simultaneous-global-release-in-2026-nihon-falcom-announces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<strong>Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter<\/strong>, a full&nbsp;3D&nbsp;remake of the franchise\u2019s second mainline entry from 2006 \u2013 will be&nbsp;launching&nbsp;worldwide in&nbsp;2026.&nbsp;While this came as exciting news for Trails fans and JRPG lovers, the announcement has inevitably raised concerns about the progress of the series\u2019 next&nbsp;mainline&nbsp;entry.&nbsp;&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 2nd Chapter - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MP-iAEH5GMM?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 Japanese&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michsuzu\/status\/2001560439508046122?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">independent journalist Suzuki Online<\/a>, during Nihon&nbsp;Falcom\u2019s&nbsp;shareholders meeting held on December 18,&nbsp;president&nbsp;Toshihiro Kondo was asked&nbsp;why&nbsp;he decided to insert the Trails in the Sky remakes before the Kai no Kiseki arc\u2019s next game. Although the benefit of attracting&nbsp;new players&nbsp;is obvious, shareholders asked whether this was properly weighed against the risk of losing existing fans&nbsp;who\u2019ve&nbsp;been waiting for the story\u2019s conclusion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response, Kondo apologized for the long wait and explained that&nbsp;with the Kai no Kiseki games being PlayStation exclusive&nbsp;(referring to initial Japan releases), \u201cit\u2019s become clear that the player base is&nbsp;dwindling.\u201d That\u2019s why before heading towards the story\u2019s conclusion,&nbsp;the developers&nbsp;decided to&nbsp;hop over to&nbsp;the Trails in the Sky remakes as a way to increase the likelihood&nbsp;that players who had dropped out, or&nbsp;those who had been interested in the series but found it difficult to jump in midway, would come back or&nbsp;start playing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1526\" height=\"856\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1526px) 100vw, 1526px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251218-55150-001.jpg\" alt=\"Trails Beyond the Horizon\" class=\"wp-image-55154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251218-55150-001.jpg 1526w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251218-55150-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251218-55150-001-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Another&nbsp;important&nbsp;point&nbsp;Kondo brings up is the high development costs of Kai no Kiseki and the team\u2019s exhaustion.&nbsp;The president has already&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/if-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-doesnt-get-a-sequel-our-fans-will-go-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-nihon-falcom-ceo-on-future-releases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mentioned on previous occasions<\/a>&nbsp;that the Trails in the Sky remakes came as a \u201cbreather\u201d for development staff, and he affirmed this point of view in the shareholders meeting. \u201cFrom an internal standpoint, there\u2019s a desire to give the&nbsp;Trails&nbsp;team a break, and to raise their motivation toward completing Kai no Kiseki.&#8221; This might be&nbsp;a good&nbsp;time&nbsp;to remember that Nihon&nbsp;Falcom&nbsp;has only 69 employees&nbsp;working on Kai no Kiseki, Ys games and other titles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.falcom.co.jp\/sora2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter<\/a>&nbsp;is&nbsp;set to launch in 2026, for PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch&nbsp;2&nbsp;and PlayStation 5.&nbsp;Trails Beyond the Horizon, the series\u2019 latest mainline entry, is coming to the West in January 2026&nbsp;on all major platforms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/trails-in-the-sky-the-3rd-or-from-zero-could-be-next-in-line-for-a-full-remake-but-the-devs-are-torn-about-what-order-to-go-in-nihon-falcom-ceo-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Trails in the Sky the 3rd or from Zero could be next in line for a full remake, but the devs are torn about what order to go&nbsp;in, Nihon Falcom CEO says<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo addresses shareholders&#8217; concerns about longtime fans waiting for new mainline entries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":55153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-55150","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 - 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