Why don't the really good games make it to NA/EU?
Sunday, 5. April 2009, 00:54:32
I've been pondering this for a while now, or rather since I was a kid. I've seen amazing games by Sony, Sega, Konami, and other developers made but they have never seen the light of mankind on the other side of the earth, meaning they have never been heard of or seen to people living in North America or Europe. This left me curious, why don't these Japanese games ever be made into English for non-Japanese fans?
Aside from the obscene (eroge), even general Final Fantasy or Grand Theft Auto like games don't make it. This brings me to another point as I've noticed in various Japanese cultural media, English is like an enemy to the general Japanese public. For instance, in manga aside from kanji, English is feared, people really don't want to learn it. One particular scene was from Angel Densetsu where for the lack of a word "advertisers" were going to people's homes promoting the learning of English, and the opposition, those whom the "advertisers" where talking to, really didn't want them to sell their products, aka buy the products to learn the language or take interest in the course.
This brings me to another point, unless you grow up in a foreign country, English is never really an interest for Native speakers. I mean, technically, English is useless to learn for Japanese people if they want to work in Japan alone. I can understand that, but still I believe there is more towards this problem, perhaps I don't understand the deep negative meaning towards their "hate" in English, but the lack of English brings a whole bunch of problems for us (people in foreign countries).
We all know games which are developed in Japan have to be translated to English, so there is big demand for translators, but of course, that itself isn't an easy job. Sure, you might get the official script and can use it, but you would need to actually sit next to and play the game while translating, so it's a really tough stance for these fellows. I guess, perhaps that's one of main reasons why RPG games which look better than Final Fantasy, perhaps not visually but story-wise are not seen in other parts of the world, the long complex story (aside from the Pokemon series) is way too much for any translator to keep up with. Similarly, perhaps that's the reason all Yakuza games are not seen in North America or Europe, Yakuza-like games tend to have a long dramatic insert animation which explain the story (which to be honest are more visually stunning than those of GTA), these tend to be almost like a real drama show and maybe just doesn't interest the translators - drama subbing of Japanese media is quite rare. Very little gets done, and usually anything related to manga are worked on (easier to reference something without knowing context than paying attention to every single episode).
I think I'll end it here for now... This is all I can think of today and I may go further later. It's ironic how I answer my own questions through a blog. Feel free to leave any of your thoughts.
Aside from the obscene (eroge), even general Final Fantasy or Grand Theft Auto like games don't make it. This brings me to another point as I've noticed in various Japanese cultural media, English is like an enemy to the general Japanese public. For instance, in manga aside from kanji, English is feared, people really don't want to learn it. One particular scene was from Angel Densetsu where for the lack of a word "advertisers" were going to people's homes promoting the learning of English, and the opposition, those whom the "advertisers" where talking to, really didn't want them to sell their products, aka buy the products to learn the language or take interest in the course.
This brings me to another point, unless you grow up in a foreign country, English is never really an interest for Native speakers. I mean, technically, English is useless to learn for Japanese people if they want to work in Japan alone. I can understand that, but still I believe there is more towards this problem, perhaps I don't understand the deep negative meaning towards their "hate" in English, but the lack of English brings a whole bunch of problems for us (people in foreign countries).
We all know games which are developed in Japan have to be translated to English, so there is big demand for translators, but of course, that itself isn't an easy job. Sure, you might get the official script and can use it, but you would need to actually sit next to and play the game while translating, so it's a really tough stance for these fellows. I guess, perhaps that's one of main reasons why RPG games which look better than Final Fantasy, perhaps not visually but story-wise are not seen in other parts of the world, the long complex story (aside from the Pokemon series) is way too much for any translator to keep up with. Similarly, perhaps that's the reason all Yakuza games are not seen in North America or Europe, Yakuza-like games tend to have a long dramatic insert animation which explain the story (which to be honest are more visually stunning than those of GTA), these tend to be almost like a real drama show and maybe just doesn't interest the translators - drama subbing of Japanese media is quite rare. Very little gets done, and usually anything related to manga are worked on (easier to reference something without knowing context than paying attention to every single episode).
I think I'll end it here for now... This is all I can think of today and I may go further later. It's ironic how I answer my own questions through a blog. Feel free to leave any of your thoughts.
WIDGETIZE