This is really the worst excuse for not localizing a game I've seen.
It's not because the games aren't making money, not because this, that, and the other, it's because they don't have enough staff. There are ways around that. Instead of releasing a Tales of game yearly, Namco Bandai could localize a game. Localization takes for less capital than development does, so they might just make more money in multiple regions than development costs for a game that's only released in Japan.
Also. Outsourcing. There are a lot of localization studios. XSeed, Atlus USA, NISA, first party localization studios. Outsource the localization. In interviews, XSeed and NIS both have stated they've negotiated with Namco Bandai to localize the Tales games for the west only to be turned down each time. XSeed and NIS offering to localize means that Namco would have received money for publishing rights for that specific game in the west, so no loss, they'd only have gained money.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/25/tales-team-simply-doesnt-enough-staff-localize-every-game/
