Drawbacks to game localization?
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:31 am
There are tons of languages out there, but maybe only a couple dozen are actually available in any arbitrary commercial game.
And obviously, a lot of languages out there simply won't get a localized copy of the game, thus effectively reducing the amount of enjoyment they could potentially get out of it, compared to other players that can understand the language sufficiently well to have deep philosophical discussions during lunch break.
So game localization naturally would appeal to those with plenty of good-will (or looking to profit).
Do you think anyone (eg: companies) will lose anything from any one of us cracking open a game and translating the scripts so our fellow gamers that are not fortunate enough to understand the "original" language will be able to enjoy it as much as we do?
It's not like square enix is going to release FF13 in Hausa or something (language randomly selected from wikipedia frontpage based on article count)
And obviously, a lot of languages out there simply won't get a localized copy of the game, thus effectively reducing the amount of enjoyment they could potentially get out of it, compared to other players that can understand the language sufficiently well to have deep philosophical discussions during lunch break.
So game localization naturally would appeal to those with plenty of good-will (or looking to profit).
Do you think anyone (eg: companies) will lose anything from any one of us cracking open a game and translating the scripts so our fellow gamers that are not fortunate enough to understand the "original" language will be able to enjoy it as much as we do?
It's not like square enix is going to release FF13 in Hausa or something (language randomly selected from wikipedia frontpage based on article count)