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Article published In:
Game Localisation
Edited by Xiaochun Zhang and Samuel Strong
[The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 4:2] 2017
► pp. 162–182

Fallacies of game localization

Censorship and #TorrentialDownpour

| University of North Texas
Using the Twitter hashtag #TorrentialDownpour, a vocal group of disgruntled, English-speaking gamers launched an attack in early 2016 protesting the localization changes made to the game Fire Emblem Fates. While dismissible as the latest “toxic technoculture” (Massanari 2015), the #TorrentialDownpour campaign’s claims are not unfounded; there are links between localization and censorship, in that both practices adapt texts moving between markets and cultures. This article draws from translation theory and observations of localization practice to problematize #TorrentialDownpour’s claims, and in the process address some of the most prevalent fallacies involving game localization: localization is not censorship; there is no better version; and one person is not ruining gamers’ fun.
Keywords: video games, localization, censorship, Twitter, Fire Emblem Fates
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Fire Emblem Fates and its North American Localization
  • Fire Emblem Fates and #TorrentialDownpour
  • Localization and censorship
  • Localization as collaboration
  • Localization is not censorship, but…
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
Published online: 26 January 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.00002.man
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