MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
I have another theory, Spanish translations require more work, some other languages don't. For other languages you can easily take the plain text in English and just straight translate it without paying too much attention to context. So the result is either a trainwreck that mixes/ignores gender/closeness/person or is more expensive. Many times this is done in Spain for videogames by people who just don't care and make stuff up or that abuse from localism and low register that just doesn't work in other countries. This leads to games that only work in Spain -if ever- so many developers just don't bother.There are millions of Spanish-speakers, but we aren't enough rich to buy all. You can see in many free-to-play online videogames there are translations to different languages but not for Spanish.
For D&D to get a hold in many Spanish Speaking countries, it would need two translations, one in Spain's Spanish and the other in a more neutral dialect. (Or for it to be done in Argentina)
So... there is a lot wrong with this post.
First, the argument that translating a book from English to Spanish won't make a profit because Spanish-speakers are too poor is nonsensical. Yes much of latin america is below the poverty line, but translating a book from English to Spanish is also not that expensive. There are certainly enough Spanish speakers who can afford to buy a PHB and DMG. The profit problem has way more to do with whether D&D is interesting enough for Spanish-speakers to actually buy one.
I think that box sets would work best. Have stuff that fits next to other tabletop games in stores. Books would get marginalized to the same channels that the English translations are already in.
The Chinese censorship question has always been overstated. China has been perfectly fine with the supernatural if you look at their films and video games, many of which are quite popular. D&D may still have trouble there simply for it's old Satanic devils/demons reputation, but even that is unlikely to stop a Chinese release of the PHB which barely mentions those elements.
As far as I remember Ghostbusters had to be dubbed as something like "monster hunters" or something. D&D would have to pass through a lot of cultural translation. (What to do of the Cleric and the Deities under China?) Not too long ago we knew of China burning the books for an RPG kickstarter?
Something like Storm Kings Thunder could be banned in Russia and may not be very popular in Eastern Europe and parts of South America.
I find this interesting, in what way could it be taken as offensive to Slavic and Russian sensibilities?