Certain series never stop, but it seems the Trails games (which are now 20 years old) are getting to the point of completion.
Speaking to GameSpot recently, the Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo (who is also one of the key devs behind Trails) mentioned how the main story is now "about 80-90% complete" and while there could be "another arc", whatever happens next wouldn't continue much longer and don't expect to see a "30th or 40th anniversary". Here's the full exchange:
Right now in the Trails games, we're on the fourth arc. Is there a planned number of arcs left? Is there a planned end of the series?
Toshihiro Kondo: Actually, the series has progressed to the point where its main story is about 80-90% complete. And so while there will be games that come out, and those could be in the form of another arc after this, it won't continue on too much longer. And you won't see an arc as big as Cold Steel again. Though we're currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series, you won't see a 30th or 40th anniversary.
As for a "direct successor to the Trails series", according to Kondo "there's nothing specifically planned" and at the moment the focus is on "finishing up Trails". In terms of "new IPs" though, there are "actually several things" actively in the works.
The team is also eager to explore some new projects, and the developer wants to see its younger team members "grow and experience new things":
You see, the Trails series has been going on for 20 years now, and as great a thing as that is, the issue is that that means a lot of folks have been working on that title for many, many years. They want to try new things. They have new ideas. There are new challenges they want to tackle.
Developing a game series like Trails over this great period of time is kind of like developing an online game in that you're constantly thinking, "What's the next event or thing that we have to do? What's the course of the game itself?" And what that causes, a lot of times, is that the younger staff and their development kind of stagnates for a while. But I want them to be able to grow and experience new things that lead to new skills and new ideas.
So, in the background, we allow them to create and work on these new IPs--to talk about the things that they want to do. I believe that that will make them even stronger developers and they'll have even better ideas that contribute even more to our games.
This update on the Trails series follows the release of the turn-based RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak on the Switch at the end of last month. There's even a demo you can download and try out on the Switch eShop.
In addition to this, last week it was officially confirmed The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II would be localised for the Switch in "early 2025".