D&D 5E (2014) WotC will not allow translation of D&D NEXT.

[nerfherder]

I hope it gets translated into British English.

Or, as I like to call it, English

 

[thalmin]

Not having the communication from WotC to Hobby Japan to be able to quote, and I couldn't read it if I had it, I wonder if the statement from WotC was closer to "We are not yet licensing..." or "We have no plans yet to license..." rather than "We plan to not license..."? Also, could the wording be too subtle a difference in English to Japanese?

 

[Umbran]

.. I wonder if the statement from WotC was closer to "We are not yet licensing..." or "We have no plans yet to license..." rather than "We plan to not license..."?

Yes, that's what I'm getting at as well.

 

[Mirtek]

If a rpg company that already has a small target audience doesn't do translations they will lose money. Frankly,it's just bad business. I just refuse to think WOTC has lost all business sense

Actually WotC losing all busniess sense was the reason why the german translation was cancelled in the first place. The german translator had already done quite a few books, was happy with the net results after paying all costs and fees to Wotc, and was busily planning his next translations. Then out of the blue WotC send a mail and demanded an unreasonable (for the german market) increase in sales. When they replied that these could not be done WotC cancelled their license without so much as even trying to reach a new agreement. Then WotC went to polish the door knobs of all other majar german RPG publishers big enough to handle D&D (there are not that many) and was laughed at every time they told how many sales the expected. And that was the end of german D&D and I can tell you, even in this day and age, with the common assumption about how widely spread english language is, it's still a hard hurdle in aquiring new players

 

[Cybit]

Running the kanji by a friend's wife (who is japanese); she is saying that the intent is "WotC has no licensing plans yet" rather than "there will never be a license".

Which ties into Mearls' comments that they don't intend to do any 3rd Party licensing until after the DMG comes out. Knowing Hasbro and WotC from the MtG side; WotC will probably handle the translations in (Hasbro) house; as to potentially maximize any profits earned overseas.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I get that you're in Japan, and that it's possible you think I'm somehow trying to slight a Japanese company you like and of which you feel the need to defend. I'm not, I promise.

FWIW your first post sounded ignorantly dismissive to me, too. It sounded like you were saying HJ is some some funny little operation that can't spot the difference between English and Engrish. Glad to hear that this isn't the message you intended to send.

 

[Patrick McGill]

I think the most likely scenario is that they have no plans at this time, and HJ took it to mean (or attempted to put pressure on WotC by stating) that Wizards isn't going to seek foreign language markets at all.

This early in the release, before they even know if the game is gonna sell (I think it will, but you never know), is not the time to start spending money on translation. We already know the team is smaller. I suspect they're working with a smaller budget as well.

 

[Henry]

I apologize if this offends anyone, but is anyone else laughing at the irony that the press release about the translation licenses itself is causing differences in opinion over what it's actually trying to say?

 

[Iosue]

That's the problematic bit, right there. There's a connotation implied there.

There's an *active* decision - "We have specifically and explicitly decided against selling translations," and there's the passive, "We are not ready to licence for translation at this time."

What you give above makes it sound like the former, when it could also be the latter.

And what I'm saying is that Hobby Japan is unequivocally saying it's the former. They don't say "WotC said they are not ready to license at this time," they say, "WotC has decided to not license translations." That by itself might be enough to assume WotC is planning on doing it in-house, but HJ continues to say, "WotC has decided to only sell to the English-language market."

Running the kanji by a friend's wife (who is japanese); she is saying that the intent is "WotC has no licensing plans yet" rather than "there will never be a license".

I disagree, and so does Synsuke, the Japanese OP of this thread. There is no mention of "yet", or "at this time." If this was simply WotC telling HJ that they haven't finalized their overseas strategy yet, HJ would not have made this announcement in this way. Because "no licensing plans yet" at least implies that long-term HJ could expect WotC to come to them with plans, so they could simply say, "No news yet. Please wait for more information." This was flat out, "Eigoban nomi wo hanbai shi, Honyakuban no raisensu wo hakkou shinai to iu kettei wo shimashita": WotC has decided to not issue a license and to sell only English versions.

The announcement doesn't preclude the possibility of a "change in policy", but it most definitely is not a "let's wait and see" announcement.

FWIW your first post sounded ignorantly dismissive to me, too. It sounded like you were saying HG is some some funny little operation that can't spot the difference between English and Engrish. Glad to hear that this isn't the message you intended to send.

FWIW, I did not take Morrus's post as insulting towards HJ. To an extent dismissive, as if this was just second-hand rumor mill news, yes. But insulting, no. Given HJ's industry status and history with WotC, I think that if an equivalent English language licensee made a similar statement it would have been put up in the news section, not just chalked up to misunderstanding. (That said, I fully understand a reluctance on Morrus's part not to put items in the news section that he can't personally verify.)

WotC does not have a direct communication pipeline to the Japanese D&D market. (They do have one for Magic, but not D&D.) As their exclusive Japanese licensee, Hobby Japan is for all intents and purposes their voice in Japan. Japanese customers can get official D&D news only through Hobby Japan. The chances of a misunderstanding, things lost in translation, are above nil, but extremely low.

I think the most likely scenario is that they have no plans at this time, and HJ took it to mean (or attempted to put pressure on WotC by stating) that Wizards isn't going to seek foreign language markets at all.

This early in the release, before they even know if the game is gonna sell (I think it will, but you never know), is not the time to start spending money on translation. We already know the team is smaller. I suspect they're working with a smaller budget as well.

Their budget has nothing to do with this. Hobby Japan pays them money for the Japanese version license, then does the translation and publishes the books.

 

[Iosue]

I apologize if this offends anyone, but is anyone else laughing at the irony that the press release about the translation licenses itself is causing differences in opinion over what it's actually trying to say?

As near as I can tell, the only two people in this thread who can read the press release are in perfect agreement on what it says.