Nintendo Treehouse on localizing games when it comes to simultaneous launches worldwide
When Nintendo-published games are hitting western territories and Japan at the same time, localization becomes a much-different beast. So how does the Nintendo Treehouse approach these situations?
Localization manager Nate Bihldorff explained to Siliconera:
“We’re in touch with the dev teams from long before formal localization begins, giving feedback on all manner of game elements, and once formal localization starts, we talk every day. As such, we’re constantly asking questions about the plot, background on characters, and even series etymology on enemy and character names. We feel a real responsibility to curate these worlds and preserve the vision of the developers, so I’m sure we get incredibly annoying as we pester them about whether, say, a particular enemy is related to a Moblin or an Octorok.”
