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

[mach1.9pants]

Or nothing is happening until they work all the licensing out. OGL/SRD/etc is all on hold until next year.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, they have the pdf only basic set coming out in a couple of weeks and that seems like a prime target for translation.

I personally find it very improbable WOTC will not publish and foreign language stuff, but they may not do it now or soon. That I can believe.

 

[Echohawk]

Well, they have the pdf only basic set coming out in a couple of weeks and that seems like a prime target for translation.

But not likely until it gets to version "1.0" which Mearls reckoned would happen by the end of 2014.

I'm guessing that this is more a case of "no firm plans for translations yet" rather than a more sinister "a decision has been made that there will be no translations done".

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, I see two possibilities.

1) The translation is being moved in-house. HASBRO has a hidden army of folks in various markets who are looking for translations work?

2) The translation will be left up to the fan community. Whatever licensing shenanigans WotC comes up with in 2015 will allow for folk who want to translate to translate.

 

[Iosue]

Here's my translation of the notice.

AN IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT "D&D NEXT"
Thank you very much for your continued patronage of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

Since January of 2013, we have been engaging in promotional activities, primarily through "Table Game Channel", on the assumption of making the transtion from D&D 4th Edition to D&D Next. However, Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of D&D, has decided to sell only English versions of D&D Next, and not put out a license for translations. This applies not only to Japan, but all non-English language regions.
As a result, we cannot release a Japanese version of D&D Next.
We deeply apologize that we can meet the expectations of everyone who was looking forward to a Japanese version of D&D Next.

As a company, we will wait for an opportunity to do the translation, taking in account the possiblity that Wizards of the Coast may change their policy, but we must announce here that for the time being, there is no plan to publish Japanese versions of D&D Next merchandise.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who has supported the Japanese versions of D&D over the 10 years since the Japanese release of D&D 3rd Edition.

Eiji Nakabayashi
Game Development Department
Hobby Japan, Inc.

Well, . Wizards has steadily been building good will with me for the past 2 years, but this pisses me off. Not least because I was hoping to get a game of 5e going with some Japanese gamer friends, and they might not be much up to it if WotC is abandoning the Japanese market.

 

[_sheepy_]

I won't bet Wizards will translate inhouse. It may work for Basic (a big may), but it won't work for books.

For example, to print and sell a book in China, you need an approval from the government, through a local publisher in good standing. After that, there are two Chinese alphabets (thanks the communist party), with different communities and terms, where one's goblin is another's gnome and vice versa. (This is not a joke)

And if Wizards plan to let local publishers do the translation, Wizards should also let them handle Basic for consistency and for yearly update. So I'd rather believe they just want to close the doors until, well, half a year means until the fans have translated everything they need.

Even better, the publisher can just buy the translation from fans. Really happened to Chinese 4e. May be that is the plan.

Don't worry. This is old news. Fans will do the translation either way.

 

[Yora]

I heard the same about the German Version. But that they don't allow the translation to ALL non-english Languages is shocking news for me.

At least most long time players are used to it and actually prefer the English Versions.

Long time players are used to it, because German translations have always been lagging behind for years. I don't think most of 3rd edition was never translated at all. Learn to read english, or play Core Books only.

 

[GameOgre]

I really don't understand what the issue with some folks is unless its just to Drama up some noise.

They said they are not ready to let anyone publish D&D at the moment,maybe not until next year.

Then someone asked"Can we publish in Japanese? No?"

"WOTC will not let Japanese Publish! The sky is falling!Everything is ruined!"


So the issue is that WOTC isn't letting foreign publishers go ahead of the English ones or what?

They are not ready for ANYONE at this point,chill pout and wait along with everyone else.

I'm pretty positive that once the game is released and they have worked up exactly how they want to control their product and what hoops everyone will have to jump through they will be more than happy to let everyone with the wallet and determination needed to go ahead and make WOTC more money regardless of language.

 

[BoldItalic]

I hope it gets translated into British English. My characters need armour to wear.

 

[ShadoWWW]

In fact, there are fans translating the rules even now.