According to Nihon Falcom, the main story of the Trails series is “about 80-90%” complete

Some series never end, but it seems that the Trails games (now 20 years old) are close to completion.

Speaking to GameSpot, Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo (who is also one of the lead developers behind Trails) mentioned that the main story is now “about 80-90% complete” and that while there may be “another story arc,” whatever happens next won’t last much longer and don’t expect a “30th or 40th anniversary.” Here’s the full exchange:

We are currently on the fourth story arc of the Trails games. Are there a number of additional story arcs planned? Is there an end to the series planned?

Toshihiro Kondo: In fact, the series is now 80-90% complete. So while there will still be games coming out that could come in the form of another story arc, it won’t continue like this for much longer. And there won’t be a story arc as big as Cold Steel. Although we’re currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series, there won’t be a 30th or 40th anniversary.

As for a “direct successor to the Trails series,” Kondo says “there’s nothing concrete planned” and right now the focus is on “finishing Trails.” However, in terms of “new IPs,” “several things” are actually actively in the works.

The team would also like to try out some new projects and the developer wants the younger team members to “grow and experience new things”:

The Trails series has been around for 20 years now, and as great as that is, the problem is that a lot of people have been working on this title for many, many years. They want to try new things. They have new ideas. They want to tackle new challenges.

Developing a game series like Trails over such a long period of time is a bit like developing an online game where you’re constantly thinking, “What’s the next event or thing we need to do? What’s the gameplay?” And that often leads to the younger people’s development stagnating for a while. But I want them to be able to grow and experience new things that lead to new skills and new ideas.

In the background, we’re allowing them to create and work on these new IPs – to talk about the things they want to do. I think that makes them even better developers and they’ll have even better ideas that will contribute even more to our games.

This update to the Trails series follows the release of turn-based RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak on Switch late last month. There’s even a demo you can download and try out from the Switch eShop.

In addition, last week it was officially confirmed The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II would be localized for the switch in “Beginning of 2025“.