Will the game be released in Chinese?

[Draky]

Just a quick question, and I am assuming here Paradox already has plans on the matter at this point in time.

Is the game going to be released in Chinese language too? Because the Steam page doesn't mention Chinese language support (just as it doesn't mention Spanish - another widespread language), so I am wondering what is the Paradox thinking on the matter? Are they still considering a possibility of releasing it in Chinese, and if they don't, are they sure that's a good decision considering the size of Chinese videogame market?

As well as the tendency of Chinese players to give negative reviews to games that don't support their language (a practice I absolutely condemn personally, but a practice that exists nontheless)

 

[SchwarzKatze]

As well as the tendency of Chinese players to give negative reviews to games that don't support their language (a practice I absolutely condemn personally, but a practice that exists nontheless)

So that's why Stellaris was downvoted a lot recently

 

[Dsingis]

So that's why Stellaris was downvoted a lot recently

Yes, if you remove the language filter on the reviews, you will see hundreds of chinese comments, that all basically complain about how "Paradox doesn't give a shit about chinese players" and that "Paradox is unfriendly to chinese players" etc etc. blah blah blah.

Chinese players have successfully blackmailed smaller dev companies into adding chinese support by reviewbombing their games.
Now they think they can blackmail everyone into doing that.
I personally hope they never ever add chinese support to this game. Never negotiate with terrorists.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Yes, if you remove the language filter on the reviews, you will see hundreds of chinese comments, that all basically complain about how "Paradox doesn't give a shit about chinese players" and that "Paradox is unfriendly to chinese players" etc etc. blah blah blah.

Chinese players have successfully blackmailed smaller dev companies into adding chinese support by reviewbombing their games.
Now they think they can blackmail everyone into doing that.
I personally hope they never ever add chinese support to this game. Never negotiate with terrorists.

But I thought only players who owns a game on Steam can write reviews about that game?

 

[famaouz]

...the tendency of Chinese players to give negative reviews to games that don't support their language...

I prefer they support Latin instead, you know, since it's about Rome and not China /s

 

[Officer Crabtree]

But I thought only players who owns a game on Steam can write reviews about that game?

Maybe they have a decent understanding of English, at least enough to play the game, or maybe there are Chinese translation mods out there.

I prefer they support Latin instead, you know, since it's about Rome and not China /s

That's a great idea!

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Maybe they have a decent understanding of English, at least enough to play the game, or maybe there are Chinese translation mods out there.

I mean, it's not quite blackmailing if they are legitimate customers who paid for the games.

 

[Searry]

Hmm? Why don't they learn english like the rest of the people around the world?

 

[Officer Crabtree]

I mean, it's not quite blackmailing if they are legitimate customers who paid for the games.

Still, people tend to be scared off by a review score of "mixed" or less, so even though they paid, they might cause other people to avoid the game.

It seems both CKII and EU4 got the Chinese hate treatment because there is a forum thread in which PDX said that they won't do another full translation so late in their development life, many of those hate reviews reference that thread.

 

[Dsingis]

I mean, it's not quite blackmailing if they are legitimate customers who paid for the games.

Yes, they paid for the game knowing very well, that it doesn't have chinese language support. There are tons of mods, that add chinese language to the game.
I think the thing that started the whole reviewbombing of Stellaris was, that someone asked the paradox support why they don't support chinese language.

Their answer was, that they recieve localization requests from all over the world, Japan, Spain etc. and that they don't have the ressources to localize the game to every language.
Chinese players understood this as "We don't give a shit about China" and started the reviewbombing.
Some comments explicitly state, that they change their positive review to a bad one because paradox doesn't give a shit about chinese players. Others say the game is good, but still downvote because no chinese language. The list goes on.

That is blackmailing, they are reviewbombing this game in order to get their demands. Just because it worked with other game companies, they now think they can do it everywhere. This doesn't only happen to Stellaris.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Hmm? Why don't they learn english like the rest of the people around the world?

It's several times more difficult for them to do so.

Still, people tend to be scared off by a review score of "mixed" or less, so even though they paid, they might cause other people to avoid the game.

It seems both CKII and EU4 got the Chinese hate treatment because there is a forum thread in which PDX said that they won't do another full translation so late in their development life, many of those hate reviews reference that thread.

Actually, it seems like the trigger was

Games that have been sold do not count because, well, they are already sold - we can't charge them extra for Chinese localisation done after they bought.

Which brought out all the Chinese who bought the game.

The downvote spike last year was an unrelated incident where the PI sales department decided to cancel regional pricing before summer sales.

 

[Officer Crabtree]

Hmm? Why don't they learn english like the rest of the people around the world?

I guess they feel entitled.

 

[famaouz]

Hmm? Why don't they learn english like the rest of the people around the world?

Sound like a true Victorian Imperialist

 

[Officer Crabtree]

Actually, it seems like the trigger was

Which brought out all the Chinese who bought the game.

The downvote spike last year was an unrelated incident where the PI sales department decided to cancel regional pricing before summer sales.

That's not the only thing he said in that thread, his point was that China is a relatively small market for PDS and a very unreliable one too, as the Chinese government banned HOI4 because it's Chinese narrative in WtT differed from government propaganda.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

It's several times more difficult for them to do so.

That map depicts the situation the other way around. Difficulty to learn as native English speaker.

I imagine latin alphabet at least is relatively easy to learn regardless of your mother tongue due to simple characters and relatively small set of characters.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

That map depicts the situation the other way around. Difficulty to learn as native English speaker.

I imagine latin alphabet at least is relatively easy to learn regardless of your mother tongue due to simple characters and relatively small set of characters.

It works both ways. It's essentially the difference between English and other languages from a learner's prespective.

And no, it's about the language, not the alphabet. Slavic languages are in the same category regardless of their alphabet, and Korean isn't any easier than Chinese.

 

[Prometheus_1]

Well I would like if they considered Italian for once !

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

It works both ways. It's essentially the difference between English and other languages from a learner's prespective.

And no, it's about the language, not the alphabet. Slavic languages are in the same category regardless of their alphabet, and Korean isn't any easier than Chinese.

Good catch on Korean, a bit odd for chart like that to omit it. I do think the writing system is by far the most (or even the only really) difficult part of Japanese for typical gaming grade text at least.

 

[cipherblaze]

As a Chinese myself, I personally don't think it is necessary to have built-in Chinese language. Last time Stellaris had a horrible localisation team, which ruined it totally, and it demonstrated that Paradox has no ability to determine if a Chinese localization effort is good or not. Also, many of you might not know, in this game it features a "political metaphor", that you may become an emperor through stealing powers from the republic, which is what is going on now in China. Chinese localization will bring unwanted eyes on this matter, and I don't want Imperator:Rome to suffer the same fate as HOI4, which is now locked on steam CN. English is enough for most of people like me, and localization was, is and will be done better in the hands of non-profit localization team.

 

[Manic Eskimo]

And no, it's about the language, not the alphabet. Slavic languages are in the same category regardless of their alphabet, and Korean isn't any easier than Chinese.

Dude Korean is super easy. The only thing difficult about Korean is that they use Chinese characters all over the place. The actual Korean alphabet is one of the easiest I've come across. The letters are based on the shape your mouth makes when you make the sound. For example M is a straight line like this - and N is a straight line with a little downward arrow in the middle. I could read basic words in Korean after only a couple of weeks living there. I couldn't read a newspaper however because they use a lot of Chinese characters mixed in. Also the grammar is more similar to Spanish than English. Like Yoda you must speak.