The highly popular role playing game Persona 5 is set to get a new edition on March 31, with a batch of new content, including characters, storylines, cutscenes, and endings. Now, as announced by a tweet from ATLUS West, players will also be able to enjoy the game completely subtitled in French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Persona 5 Royal will let fans experience the game fully-subtitled in French, Italian, German and Spanish for the first time ever. #P5R will Take Your Heart, March 31 2020. pic.twitter.com/Jrn8EVdrCi
— Official ATLUS West (@Atlus_West) December 12, 2019
This is big news for the game, as allowing players to experience it in these languages will allow the game to be more accessible to a wider variety of players.
It is important to note that this does not mean that the game’s English dialogue is just being translated into subtitles; localization is not the same thing as translation. Translation can create a gap due to contextual and cultural differences in the languages. For instance, KFC has their famous motto, “Finger Lickin’ Good,” which makes sense in the U.S., but when translated into Chinese, the resulting phrase is “Eat Your Fingers Off”. There aren’t always direct translations between languages.
However, with localization, it is a full overhaul of the dialogue that takes culture, context, and other factors into account to ensure that the proper message and tone are relayed through the dialogue.
FIGS Localization (i.e. French, Italian, German, Spanish) is becoming a bigger thing in the game industry, and it is good to see ATLUS West joining in on that with this new edition of Persona 5. Not only will help boost sales and player base, but also help include a wider variety of cultures and backgrounds. Adding this to an already critically acclaimed game is only spelling out a recipe for success.
