LogFAQs > #902670250

A report from a Namco Bandai employee sparked speculation that the reason behind the lack of a localization was due to a deal with Microsoft to keep the game as an Xbox 360 exclusive in western territories. Later, she retracted this statement, apologizing for creating false impressions.[43] Series producer Hideo Baba later said that the main factor in this decision was the strain put on the team with the simultaneous release of the original, meaning a Japan-exclusive release was chosen to lessen the burden. This also coincided with poor marketing feedback for the series in western territories

Hideo Baba: Actually, the team is working on many titles and they have to release them in Japan, so the timing is very important. And also the localization is a big challenge with many problems for the team. I would love to release those two titles on the western market, but the timing and the feedback from western branches were not very good at that time. So this is the reason why those games did not make it to the West.

JPGAMES.DE: Why did just the Xbox 360 version of Tales of Vesperia make it to the west and not the PS3 version?

Hideo Baba: Tales of Vesperia was the first title in the series which was planned to be released simultaneously in Japan, North America and Europe. This was very difficult and it was such a heavy burden for the team. So for the PS3 version, it was decided to reduce this burden and to develop it just for Japan.