[Why do many japanese games dont bother with an english version?]

[loves_cookierun]

i mean wouldnt it increase the sales to attract more players? i'm not an expert but it shouldnt be THAT demanding ,unlike adding an eng dub
i hate it when i find a cool psvita game just for it to be japanese only and finding a full fan translation is usually a miracle
woulda been cool if i learned the language overnight haha

 

[dogiwall]

They don't do a translation either due to a lack of budget or they don't think overseas would sell enough to justify the costs. Translations and localizations actually do cost time and money even if it's just text being translated and not adding a dub. A lot of Japanese games, especially that of RPGs and visual novels, tend to be very story and dialogue heavy so there's a lot of things to translate. And professional translators have to be paid and they have to do translations, quality assurance, etc. And not to mentions that programmers also have to do work to implement them in.

 

[Lilia]

Keep in mind some localizations can take more than a few years to complete. To say the least, it's even possible to develop working knowledge in Japanese within those years. If you truly want to play untranslated games, learning a foreign language isn't a bad idea in my opinion. Plenty of benefits long term besides just consuming games.

 

[satory]

As a person, who knows how the actual translation process works, it's sad to hear "not demanding". This mindset is one of the reason why modern day translation is lackluster. Companies think the same thing and don't give enough money for a real work, and people have a horrible mtl or a direct translation in games, where text is everything.
And as a person, who studied Japanese for reading novels, it's a better choice than waiting

 

[moonyuki]

I think it might be related to the development costs and the expected sales volume. Currently, the initial sales of many games are not very good, and they might only be able to cover the development expenses for a single version. Generally, those with good sales can later seek assistance from other companies to develop other language versions. Also, the scriptwriters might prefer to write in their native language, which means they need to find other skilled translators to help them translate it to ensure it conveys the original meaning. Voice acting might also be an important factor. Voice acting is also a major part of the promotion. If an English version is released, similar to some other games, there might also be English voice acting, which could be a consideration.

 

[loves_cookierun]

As a person, who knows how the actual translation process works, it's sad to hear "not demanding". This mindset is one of the reason why modern day translation is lackluster. Companies think the same thing and don't give enough money for a real work, and people have a horrible mtl or a direct translation in games, where text is everything.
And as a person, who studied Japanese for reading novels, it's a better choice than waiting

I've been trying to learn Japanese with my own little efforts from the net. It'll lift many language barriers for me!
I thought translation would be easy because companies have more people and money to complete that. I know game translation is difficult but i thought it would be a different story for a skilled group