Posted November 09, 2021
Update by Tibor regarding the Chinese localization
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We Need Chinese - Follow Up
Dear Chinese players, especially those on the Mainland China!
Ever since the start of Subverse’s development, there has been a constant request from a very special segment of our fan base that can be seen in response to nearly every post of communication from our team, and across all platforms:
“We need Chinese!”
I am writing today to genuinely express to all of our dear Chinese users: you are very, very important for us. We want to make all of you happy.
As there is still an ongoing dialogue between users regarding the Chinese localization, we feel it is important to clarify further this topic. Hopefully this post will create a consensus or at least provide more understanding of where we are with Chinese localization.
In order to explain the situation, I would like to highlight some recent feedback posts that show the different perspectives of this debate:
erulisse:
As long as it comes from the Republic of China and not the PRC, mainland China has a strict policy even on exposing skin not to mention nudity and porn in games. So as long as it's traditional chinese it's ok to spend resources on...
This leads to the legality of the subject. Since adult content is illegal in Mainland China, our approach with regards to localization is in line with what erulisse says: we identified that since the adult content is illegal in Mainland China and we should/must do the localization in Traditional Chinese (at least in step one and until adult content is not prohibited in Mainland China).
We hear your requests of "We need Chinese!" loud and clear, but dear Mainland China users, please understand - since adult content is illegal in your country, we ask that you let us handle this the way that we feel is the most optimal for Subverse and does not expose us and the whole project into trouble. The last thing any of us want is to accidentally jeopardise the entire project with a misguided localisation attempt, meaning that no Chinese users get the game. We are going to be careful, to ensure that users from all Chinese territories have methods of playing the game.
The current political landscape in Mainland China where adult content is illegal is difficult to navigate. We must handle your requests carefully, and in a way that does not breach any law of the PRC.
SATSUKI:
go check the data,how much percent of donation and pre-order are contributed by chinese?then you wont talk like this(also,they know in which market sells better ,more than you do,lol)
Regarding SATSUKI's remark - it is actually not so clear from where the traffic and Chinese users are coming.
It is important to state that we 100% acknowledge that there are lots of Chinese users and we are of course massively grateful for their support.
However, where the base of our Chinese users actually are coming from is quite important in terms of the localization approach. Based on the statistics and data we have available, we can see that Chinese users are not coming from the PRC. In fact, zero traffic is coming from the PRC (Mainland China). That is not a surprise as adult content is illegal in the PRC.
We can see some traffic from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Based on the traffic data it seems to us that most non-English speaking Chinese users purchase the game from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Please understand that since we cannot market the software in Mainland China, we cannot sell the game in Mainland China and we cannot do the localization in Simplified Chinese. Moreover, since this is a complex and massive development task, this cannot be the absolute priority for the project. Please be patient and allow us the time necessary to work on the English content of the game and gradually we will be able to fulfil your request to play Subverse in Chinese.
We would like to ask you all who are waiting for the Chinese localization, please support us by upvoting the game. A more popular game has a better chance to acquire the necessary resources and connections needed to create localizations quicker and with better quality.
Thank you very much for your support.
Regards,
Tibor
Head of Development
***
We Need Chinese - Follow Up
Dear Chinese players, especially those on the Mainland China!
Ever since the start of Subverse’s development, there has been a constant request from a very special segment of our fan base that can be seen in response to nearly every post of communication from our team, and across all platforms:
“We need Chinese!”
I am writing today to genuinely express to all of our dear Chinese users: you are very, very important for us. We want to make all of you happy.
As there is still an ongoing dialogue between users regarding the Chinese localization, we feel it is important to clarify further this topic. Hopefully this post will create a consensus or at least provide more understanding of where we are with Chinese localization.
In order to explain the situation, I would like to highlight some recent feedback posts that show the different perspectives of this debate:
erulisse:
As long as it comes from the Republic of China and not the PRC, mainland China has a strict policy even on exposing skin not to mention nudity and porn in games. So as long as it's traditional chinese it's ok to spend resources on...
We hear your requests of "We need Chinese!" loud and clear, but dear Mainland China users, please understand - since adult content is illegal in your country, we ask that you let us handle this the way that we feel is the most optimal for Subverse and does not expose us and the whole project into trouble. The last thing any of us want is to accidentally jeopardise the entire project with a misguided localisation attempt, meaning that no Chinese users get the game. We are going to be careful, to ensure that users from all Chinese territories have methods of playing the game.
The current political landscape in Mainland China where adult content is illegal is difficult to navigate. We must handle your requests carefully, and in a way that does not breach any law of the PRC.
SATSUKI:
go check the data,how much percent of donation and pre-order are contributed by chinese?then you wont talk like this(also,they know in which market sells better ,more than you do,lol)
It is important to state that we 100% acknowledge that there are lots of Chinese users and we are of course massively grateful for their support.
However, where the base of our Chinese users actually are coming from is quite important in terms of the localization approach. Based on the statistics and data we have available, we can see that Chinese users are not coming from the PRC. In fact, zero traffic is coming from the PRC (Mainland China). That is not a surprise as adult content is illegal in the PRC.
We can see some traffic from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Based on the traffic data it seems to us that most non-English speaking Chinese users purchase the game from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Please understand that since we cannot market the software in Mainland China, we cannot sell the game in Mainland China and we cannot do the localization in Simplified Chinese. Moreover, since this is a complex and massive development task, this cannot be the absolute priority for the project. Please be patient and allow us the time necessary to work on the English content of the game and gradually we will be able to fulfil your request to play Subverse in Chinese.
We would like to ask you all who are waiting for the Chinese localization, please support us by upvoting the game. A more popular game has a better chance to acquire the necessary resources and connections needed to create localizations quicker and with better quality.
Thank you very much for your support.
Regards,
Tibor
Head of Development
Post edited November 09, 2021 by Waahnubis
