Square Enix is considering Kickstarter's help to crowdfund game localization so that more games from Japan can get into its Western players. The process is very costly, and the company is taking it as a possibility.
Game localization is a topic that pops up quite often at Square Enix. To make this a possibility, crowdfunding can come into the picture. CEO Phil Rogers of Square Enix Europe states that this is a very natural approach.
Square Enix is humbled to hear fan feedbacks with regard to localization of games. In fact, deliberations have been ongoing for the teams in Europe and Tokyo. The truth of the matter is that it is not simple to revive a game as tools and development processes could be quite a headache.
Methods for localizing games and making it available globally has vastly improved over the years. Square Enix is looking forward to pleasing their fans and making games like Dragon Quest available locally in the next five to ten years.
Square Enix is known for RPG franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, and Final Fantasy. These games are text-heavy, making it very problematic to localize due to costly translations. While there was news for the Western release of games like World of Final Fantasy and Star Ocean's Integrity and Faithlessness, global release for Star Ocean: Second Evolution to the PS Vita and PS4 ports or even Dragon Quest Builders have not been publicized despite fan demands.
"Crowdfunding such games would really be an interesting idea," Rogers said. Though the company would love to please the plans and try it out, it is not as easy as using Google Translate. It is a very complex and a very expensive process.
Fan feedbacks are important so Square Enix would know what their followers think or feel about issues like game localization. This is a natural way to build relationships between company and customer, in such a way that the company can do what they can to satisfy the demands.
