Cover not available
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
References

Bibliography

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Accessed January 17. [URL]
Apter, Emily S.
2006  The Translation Zone: A New Comparative Literature , Translation/Transnation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bermann, Sandra, and Michael Wood
2005  Nation, language, and the ethics of translation , Translation/transnation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bernal-Merino, Miguel Á.
2015 Translation and Localisation in Video Games: Making Entertainment Software Global. Routledge.Google Scholar
Bonds, Curtis
2016 “Fire Emblem: Fates Changes Controversial Support Conversation in Western Regions.” NintendoWorldReport. January 20. Accessed January 17, 2017. [URL]
Bray, Josh
2016 “Fire Emblem Fates Poor Localization Points To Growing Issues.” Super Nerdland.com. February 22. Accessed December 29, 2016. [URL]
Chandler, Heather Maxwell
2009 The Game Production Handbook. 2nd ed. Hingham: Infinity Science Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, Heather Maxwell, and Stephanie O’Malley Deming
2011 The Game Localization Handbook. 2nd ed. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.Google Scholar
Chess, Shira and Adrienne Shaw
2015 “A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59:1: pp. 208–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Consalvo, Mia
2016 Atari to Zelda: Japan’s Videogames in Global Contexts. Cambridge: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dryden, John
2004 [1680] “From the Preface to Ovid’s Epistles.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by L. Venuti. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Esselink, Bert
2000 A Practical Guide to Localization. Rev ed. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fox, Michael-Christopher Koji
2013 Personal Interview. Tokyo, January 10.Google Scholar
Gagne, Ken
2013 “Operation Rainfall: How a Fan Campaign Brought Nintendo to its Knees.” PCWorld.com. March 4. Accessed April 30, 2017. [URL]
Gigabit
2016 “#ChallengeourFates.” Thunderclap. [URL]
GIGABIT5000
2016 “#ChallengeourFates.” Pastebin. February 15. [URL]
Grayson, Nathan
2016 “Nintendo Removes Controversial Scene from English Version of Fire Emblem Fates.” Kotaku.com. January 21. Accessed April 19, 2017. [URL]
Hasegawa, Ryoichi
2009 “Geemu Rokaraizu no Rekishi to Kore Kara [Game Localization’s History and Future].” In The Study Report on Advanced Technology Applications for Developing Digital Content. Tokyo, Japan: pp: 121–132.Google Scholar
Huntemann, Nina
2013 “Introduction: Feminist Discourses in Games/Game Studies.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No. 2.Google Scholar
immahnoob
2016a “Reminder that Nich Maragos has 3 conflicts of interest.” Twitter. February 24. Accessed January 16, 2017. [URL].
2016b “ Fire Emblem Fates – Treehouse ‘lolcalization.’” Imgur.com. June 21. Accessed January 1, 2017. [URL]
Jenkins, Henry
1992 Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
2006 Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Judd, Ben
2013 Personal Interview. Osaka, April 26.Google Scholar
Kain, Erik
2014 “GamerGate: A Closer Look At The Controversy Sweeping Video Games.” Forbes, September 4. Accessed January 13, 2015. [URL]
2016 “’Fire Emblem Fates’ And the Curious Case Of Localization Gone Terribly Wrong.” Forbes, February 29. Accessed January 13, 2015. [URL]
Kennedy, Chris M.
2013 Personal Interview. Tokyo, March 7.Google Scholar
Klepek, Patrick
2015 “From Japan, With Changes: The Endless Debate over Video Game ‘Censorship’.” Kotaku.com. December 14. Accessed November 19, 2016. [URL]
2016a “The Fight Over The Best Way to Translate Fire Emblem Fates.” Kotaku.com. February 24. Accessed January 18, 2017. [URL]
2016b “The Ugly New Front in the Neverending Video Game Culture War.” Kotaku.com. March 4. Accessed January 10, 2017. [URL]
Mandiberg, Stephen
2014 “Games, Localization, and Diaspora.” In Fun for All: Translation and Accessibility Practices in Video Games, edited by C. Mangiron, P. Orero and M. O’Hagan. Bern: Peter Lang: pp. 217–241.Google Scholar
2015 “Responsible Localization: Game Translation Between Japan and the United States.” PhD Dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Mandiberg
Forthcoming. “Video Games Have Never Been Global: Histories of Video Game Localization.” Game History and the Local: An Anthology edited by M. Swalwell
Mangiron, Carmen, and Minako O’Hagan
2006 “Game Localization: Unleashing Imagination with ‘Restricted’ Translation.” Journal of Specialized Translation (6):10–21.Google Scholar
Massanari, Adrienne
2015 “#Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s Algorithm, Governance, and Culture Support Toxic Technocultures.” New Media & Society, first published online on October 9.Google Scholar
Mattar, Yasser
2008 “Perceptions and (re)presentations of familiarity and foreignness: The cultural politics of translation in the subtitling of Japanese animation by fans.” Leisure Vol. 32, Issue 2. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mukherjee, Roopali, and Sarah Banet-Weiser
(eds) 2012 Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich
2004 [1882] “Translations.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by L. Venuti. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nornes, Abé Mark
2007 Cinema Babel: Translating Global Cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Casey
2014 Developer’s Dilemma: The Secret World of Videogame Creators. Cambridge: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako, and Carmen Mangiron
2013 Game Localization: Translating for the Global Digital Entertainment Industry. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ricciardi, John
2013 Personal Interview. Tokyo, January 9.Google Scholar
Ritsu, Andrea
2015 “A New Degree of Homophobia Found in Fire Emblem Fates.” Tumblr.com. July 2. Accessed January 16 through [URL].
Sarkeesian, Anita
2015 “8 Things Devs Can Do To Make Games Less Shitty For Women” NYU Game Center Lecture Series, February 5.Google Scholar
Schleiermacher, Friedrich
2004 [1813] “On the Different Methods of Translating.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by L. Venuti. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
SilentNoMore
2016 “Why I Participated in Torrential Downpour and My Concerns About Fire Emblem Fates, Localisations and Censorship.” Medium.com. February 25. Accessed January 18. [URL]
Smith, Alexander O.
2012 Personal Interview. Tokyo, November 8.Google Scholar
Suolahti, Jaakko
1963 The Roman Censors: A Study on Social Structure. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.Google Scholar
Steiner, George
1998 After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. 3rd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Torikai, Kumiko
2009 Voices of the invisible presence: diplomatic interpreters in post-World War II Japan. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1998 The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference. London; New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The Translator’s Invisibility: A history of translation. 2nd ed. New York: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

Jørgensen, Kristine & Torill Elvira Mortensen
2022. Whose Expression Is It Anyway? Videogames and the Freedom of Expression. Games and Culture 17:7-8 ► pp. 997 ff. DOI logo
Mangiron, Carme
2021. Found in Translation: Evolving Approaches for the Localization of Japanese Video Games. Arts 10:1 ► pp. 9 ff. DOI logo
O’Hagan, Minako
2022. Indirect translation in game localization as a method of global circulation of digital artefacts. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 34:3 ► pp. 441 ff. DOI logo
O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
2019. Pandemic, localization and change of guard. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo
Wu, Zhiwei & Zhuojia Chen
2020. Localizing Chinese games for Southeast Asian markets. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 7:1-2 ► pp. 49 ff. DOI logo
Šisler, Vít, Jan Švelch, Shawn Clybor & Ondřej Trhoň
2023. Adapting contested national history for global audiences in Attentat 1942 and Svoboda 1945: Liberation. Studies in Eastern European Cinema 14:1 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.