Italian translation

[Slice]

Languages like Spanish and Italian and even Russian were asked for for few years by now and I think somebody even asked about the possible localizations during one of the Q&As. The answer wasn't positive (though it wasn't an outright "no", either). I don't think I'll be ever able to find that Q&A though, I'm afraid.

It would be feasible if it was done from the start. Translating a game when it's 7 y.o. means it will need separate serves (a reminder that Chinese and Korean localisations are behind "Global" for at least 1 patch). Translation and voice acting is expensive, time consuming process, and looking at how they are always kind of low on budget, the chance of getting a new language as part of global version is pretty low because in order to do so they'll need to catch up this soon 5 expansions gap. Are you ready to give up all of your progress for the sake of playing in your first language? Will this server even be profitable all things considered? Because tbh if game was suddenly translated into Russian as a separate release I would just ignore it completely, as I'm not interested in giving up a 7 years progress.

I'm a software developer and i know how works a database. I can say that's not necessary create a new character or change server (even if usually when other languages are added to client, other servers are also created with free world transfer possibility).
The comparison is spontaneous, but WoW was translated after 6 years from the launch and data wasn't lost.

[Halivel]

I'm a software developer and i know how works a database. I can say that's not necessary create a new character or change server (even if usually when other languages are added to client, other servers are also created with free world transfer possibility).
The comparison is spontaneous, but WoW was translated after 6 years from the launch and data wasn't lost.

I'm not speaking about the loss of data nor do I speak about creating characters, I'm speaking about localization process alone. As a non-native English speaker I saw dozens of games localized in my country, and barely any of them caught up in patch schedule if the initial gap was more than 2 years. WoW is probably the only example I know about, and our game market isn't exactly small. Also, again, Chinese and Korean versions of FFXIV are still behind despite being released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Believing that new language will suddenly find out its way on a global server when there are two versions still being behind despite being released not much later than Global one is... very optimistic. I'm all up for new languages being added on a global server, but all factors considered, while it's not impossible - the chances are low.

Blizzard's annual revenue was 8.09 billion $ in 2020, Square Enix's was 2.4 billion, almost 3.5 times lower. Blizzard works mainly with products they develop themselves, Square Enix also is a publisher of such media as manga and movies along with non-SE games, leading to additional costs being spent not even on their own products. Their income isn't even close to be comparable, and it has a direct impact on how much they can do.