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[Ludens]

https://twitter.com/GordonVanDyke/status/773120190171275264?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

With relative comments. For Van Dyke apparently italia gamers don't buy Paradox games, but only triple A.
I feel a bit...insulted. I have no problems with the english language, but I also like a good, well translated game. A lot of companies, like Telltale, doesn't provide an italian translation for their titles, and I know for sure this is a con for people wanting to experiment their games but have not a good english skill (I have a couple of friend who played Walking Dead S.1 only because other games are not translated). Maybe this applies to Paradox games.
I mostly buy indie titles, and for sure I rarely play triple A games, the last I played was MGSV, or Witcher 3 expansions if you consider that game a triple A release and not an indie.
EDIT: Please a mod can fix the typo in the title?

 

[Snefer]

Bit clickbaity topic. He thinks russian or portugese-brazilian is a better investment, which it probably is, based on numbers. Nothing to be insulted by.

 

[Mega]

If hardly anyone is buying to justify the cost and it's basically a drain on resources, he has a point.

 

[SOR5]

He seems to be brushing it off as a "Wow Italian gamers are great at other languages they're fine" statement, but it really does just seem like "Fuck Italian, learn English" which is insulting but I do kinda still see where he is coming from financially

 

[Acquiescence]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

 

[Ludens]

Bit clickbaity topic. He thinks russian or portugese-brazilian is a better investment, which it probably is, based on numbers. Nothing to be insulted by.

Clickbait? It's in his tweet, literally.

 

[YianGaruga]

I wouldn't take that personally. For most smaller games translating them into "smaller" languages probably isn't worth the investment. If you want to have a lot of options with games, you need to know English. That's just how it is.

I don't see how it's insulting at all, he says this is backed by his numbers. The italian gaming market is probably extremely small compared to a lot of others where your investment would see more return.

 

[Peter Ian Staker]

I doesn't matter what you buy.
They have the relevant sales stats and can see what Italians generally buy.

 

[Stevey]

No lies detected

 

[DownGrader]

I've heard the same thing being said by another developer (someone from Curve Digital? IDK) but for German. In other words, EFIGS is now not the golden standard of the choice of languages for European translations.

 

[Mega]

He says the numbers back up his statement and that there's no added return whether games are translated or not in Italy.

Those countries show they buy with localization, Italy shows no change with translation. This is only for our games though.

 

[pa22word]

He mentions sales represent .05% of overall sales. If .05% of x is less than the cost to translate then he shouldn't translate, which is the point. That's capitalism for you *shrug*

 

[Trogdor1123]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

Agreeing has nothing to do with it, it is simply a numbers game and he would probably know.

 

[Tagyhag]

Those countries show they buy with localization, Italy shows no change with translation. This is only for our games though.

I don't see why someone would translate then.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Well, when you see the second part of that tweet it does make a bit more sense

Dev Tip: Skip translating into Italian. It's a waste. Use that budget for Russian or Portuguese-Brazilian instead.

If you are an indie dev with restrained budget, you should go to places where translating could mean more sales. Plus Russia and Brazil are huge potential markets

He says its based on the data he has (which are from their games of course) and that translating to Dutch and Swedish is also a waste in this matter, so I dont see why make this personal against Italians

 

[IlSignorCornetto]

Italian average gamer do not support indie projects. Here people only plays FIFA, GTA and triple AAA games or other well known franchise. When a game is not localized, even if its lacking of an Italian dubbing, someone think about skipping a game entirely. Why someone should translate a game when no one is going to buy it? It's not worth it. The developer is wrong on one point: no one here talk English really well (even an university student like me have some problem with the language)

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

Thats spanish tho.

The italian way is "che sara sara".

I guess...you are...uninitiated? lol

 

[Snefer]

Clickbait? It's in his tweet, literally.

Yeah, but its also just half of it. Like he says, translating to italian is a waste of money, compared to translating to other languages. Some countries (like russia) are way more likely to buy games if they are localised. In Sweden for example, no one expects it, so it makes sense to spend your localisationbudget where it have the most impact = russia, not italy.

 

[His Majesty]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

except they don't

 

[SOR5]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

I thought it was gramatically wonky spanish

 

[Eylos]

portuguese is my native language, so I understand your pain, even if is 6th language most speaked in the world

discrimination sucks

 

[YianGaruga]

discrimination sucks

oh please

 

[pa22word]

portuguese is my native language, so I understand your pain, even if is 6th language most speaked in the world

discrimination sucks

This is literally the opposite of discrimination. The market doesn't bear the costs, period.

 

[FelipeMGM]

portuguese is my native language, so I understand your pain, even if is 6th language most speaked in the world

discrimination sucks

Nah cmon

Portuguese is my native language as well, and this has nothing to do with discrimination, its all about market decisions and how to make the most of your limited budget within development

 

[hydrophilic attack]

eh doesn't everyone in europe below 50 speak english anyway

always thought translations to other eurpean languages were a waste of time and money

 

[daxgame]

I'm confused.
I don't know the guy so who does he work for ? Paradox, or EA or what?
When he says "our games" what is he talking about?

eh doesn't everyone in europe below 50 speak english anyway

always thought translations to other eurpean languages were a waste of time and money

well they aren't. My wife had to stop with the Ace Attorney series when the translations stopped. She knows very basic english, which means any kind of game with dialogues is a no for her.

 

[UrbanRats]

No translation at all sucks for a lot of people, but i actually wish Italy would push more subtitled content, and less dubbing, so people would get the chance to actually learn foreign languages (or at least English).

 

[Raist]

Why? Can't be that expensive. I'm pretty sure I can translate a book in a day.

 

[IlSignorCornetto]

It's not about Discrimination: indie games are not successful here, and Italians who buy indie probably know English and dont need a translation for a game

 

[hydrophilic attack]

how can you function in the modern western world, not knowing english

 

[JP]

The doesn't appear to be anti-Italian in any way it's merely anti translating into Italian because the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[YianGaruga]

I know he singles out italian, but it's probably true for the majority of languages.

Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Greek...

MOST languages are not worth translating to. Sorry if yours is one of them, but there's nothing that can be done about it.

eh doesn't everyone in europe below 50 speak english anyway

always thought translations to other eurpean languages were a waste of time and money

sadly that's not the case for all regions

how can you function in the modern western world, not knowing english

easily

 

[johancruijff]

scrolling down

for our games so far, yes. And I'd say more Italian gamers can speak/read English. Same waste to translate into Dutch or Swedish.

i mean, he's covering his ass

we're nowhere near that level of proficiency

 

[Maxximo]

Usually Italian translations sucks badly so I actually don't care.

Also since english in Italy isn't that commonly spoken, playing games in eng. is a good way to exercise. xD

 

[Arulan]

I have friends from Spain who face this problem. Despite Spanish being a very widespread language, there are many others that appear to come first in priority for developers for economic reasons. There are many RPGs for instance that I recommend to them only to find out that there is no Spanish translation. Somewhere down the line fans will often create a mod for the translation though. I have to imagine it's even worse for Italian.

 

[Eylos]

Nah cmon

Portuguese is my native language as well, and this has nothing to do with discrimination, its all about market decisions and how to make the most of your limited budget within development

you have to agree that only in recent times we are getting games translated in portuguese, before we only got english games

games are usually translated to dutch and french even if portuguese is the 6th laguage that have more speakers in the world, french is in 18 dutch in 56

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

money/social discrimination

 

[Deleted member 126221]

Why? Can't be that expensive. I'm pretty sure I can translate a book in a day.

I don't know what to respond to that other than: LOL.

 

[YianGaruga]

you have to agree that only in recent times we are getting games translated in portuguese, before we only got english games

games are usually translated to dutch and french even if portuguese is the 6th laguage that have more speakers in the world, french is in 18 dutch in 56

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

money/social discrimination

How much purchasing power do those people have?

 

[Rodin]

I've been buying their games since the original Europa Universalis back in 2000, and i know tons of other people who played these games with me that worship Paradox. But ok, whatever he says

 

[O Canada Our Home and Native Land]

I wonder what the actual gaming population is for each language.

Maybe there's another alternative way to translate games into Italian like using volunteers.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

how can you function in the modern western world, not knowing english

Imagine how people function only knowing english, now replace it with another language.

 

[Gaspard]

I don't agree with him at all, but like the Italians say - "Que sera, sera."

Spoiler

for the uninitiated, que sera sera means "that's life"

Vita means life.

 

[Sakujou]

games got translated into korean (where they pirated the shit out of them) , so why is it too expensive to translate them into italian?
i never saw anyone from my friends in south korea own an original psx, ps2 or wii game.
not every game but most(?) got translated. so this is what makes me wonder.

i really love good translations and if you have the possibility to choose from original synchro(Japanese), English and the dubbed version.

 

[Acquiescence]

Thats spanish tho.

The italian way is "che sara sara".

I guess...you are...uninitiated? lol

except they don't

I thought it was gramatically wonky spanish

Guys, come on. I mean... come on!

Spoiler

i'm joking

Vita means life.

German, right?

 

[johancruijff]

Why? Can't be that expensive. I'm pretty sure I can translate a book in a day.

u wot

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

Eh, Spanish and Italian are basically the same language. Use the Spanish translation, ya filthy I-ties

 

[SolidSnakesMyStepDad]

Why? Can't be that expensive. I'm pretty sure I can translate a book in a day.

I really hope this is a joke

 

[Sakujou]

How much purchasing power do those people have?

fucking this. chinese or arabic is more spoken but none of these people would dare to touch the original product nor purchase it for the original price.

 

[pa22word]

you have to agree that only in recent times we are getting games translated in portuguese, before we only got english games

games are usually translated to dutch and french even if portuguese is the 6th laguage that have more speakers in the world, french is in 18 dutch in 56

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

money/social discrimination

Dutch and French buy more games, bigger market to take advantage of, get more shit translated.

On another note, maybe more games would be translated in Portuguese if Brazil didn't have absurd protectionist barriers artificially raising the price on games/hardware beyond what the market can bear. Such as the infamous $1,800 PS4.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Thats spanish tho.

The italian way is "che sara sara".

I guess...you are...uninitiated? lol

I thought it was gramatically wonky spanish

Err... I can't tell who's joking anymore. xD I think the original poster was joking but with you guys I'm not sure...

Spoiler

It's French, of course.

Why? Can't be that expensive. I'm pretty sure I can translate a book in a day.

Okay now I really hope this is a joke