Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Japanese publisher Spike Chunsoft is steadily accelerating its expansion into the US and Europe. The company’s US branch is not only localizing Spike Chunsoft’s in-house titles, but also looking to bring a variety of games by Japanese developers to English-speaking fans. At this year’s BitSummit Drift, AUTOMATON spoke to Spike Chunsoft’s executive Iizuka Yasuhiro, who is also the CEO of the publisher’s US branch. We asked him all about what kind of titles we can expect Spike Chunsoft to bring to the West, as well as their policy localization.
[...]
──This is a bit of a sensitive topic, but recently, Western gamers have grown sensitive about the localization of content from Japanese to English, and there is often controversy over the quality and wording of localizations. What is Spike Chunsoft’s policy for localizing Japanese content for the Western market?
Iizuka:
As I mentioned earlier, the American localization team members who work with us are hardcore otaku. They love games like Danganronpa and are completely up to date with Japanese anime. They are a group of people I can trust to preserve the quality of each game with peace of mind. Fortunately, we have formed a team who have high comprehension and have already been highly evaluated for their localization work. I think that people who don’t have that kind of “love” can’t do good localization.
──So, in your opinion, love for the source material is paramount in game localization, rather than factors such as personal opinions?
Iizuka:
That’s right. I think you have to love the game you’re working on. Rather than thinking of it as your job, you have to have the desire to “deliver the qualities of the game to players.” I think this kind of attitude will lead to localization that meets the needs of the Western world.
Sometimes the members in the US team even have to lock horns with the Japanese development team. For example, the Japan team will come and demand certain text corrections by the end of the day, but the US team already has other things on their plate, and then they’ll ask, “Please wait another day. Actually, just give us an extra hour!” These are not the kind of exchanges you hear from people working without passion. I think the accumulation of such practices is what leads to a good game. Our Japanese team in charge of localizing Western games works with the same kind of enthusiasm.
Full interview at the link below:
automaton-media.com
[...]
──This is a bit of a sensitive topic, but recently, Western gamers have grown sensitive about the localization of content from Japanese to English, and there is often controversy over the quality and wording of localizations. What is Spike Chunsoft’s policy for localizing Japanese content for the Western market?
Iizuka:
As I mentioned earlier, the American localization team members who work with us are hardcore otaku. They love games like Danganronpa and are completely up to date with Japanese anime. They are a group of people I can trust to preserve the quality of each game with peace of mind. Fortunately, we have formed a team who have high comprehension and have already been highly evaluated for their localization work. I think that people who don’t have that kind of “love” can’t do good localization.
──So, in your opinion, love for the source material is paramount in game localization, rather than factors such as personal opinions?
Iizuka:
That’s right. I think you have to love the game you’re working on. Rather than thinking of it as your job, you have to have the desire to “deliver the qualities of the game to players.” I think this kind of attitude will lead to localization that meets the needs of the Western world.
Sometimes the members in the US team even have to lock horns with the Japanese development team. For example, the Japan team will come and demand certain text corrections by the end of the day, but the US team already has other things on their plate, and then they’ll ask, “Please wait another day. Actually, just give us an extra hour!” These are not the kind of exchanges you hear from people working without passion. I think the accumulation of such practices is what leads to a good game. Our Japanese team in charge of localizing Western games works with the same kind of enthusiasm.
Full interview at the link below:
Interview: Spike Chunsoft plans to keep catering to the niche its known for, with localization full of love towards the source material - AUTOMATON WEST
Interview with Spike Chunsoft about the publisher's future activities in the US and Europe, as well as their policy regarding localization.
automaton-media.com
