An open plea to Bandai Namco

[KitsuneRisu]

Fine. I know this is a really really really long shot, and all I can hope is that SOME community manager is reading this and can pass the sentiment along.

I have been an Idolm@ster fan for years and years. But of course, despite many other idol franchises making it big in the English speaking world, like Love Live and even BanDori, I remained a true and faithful fan. Although the voices are small, I have seen many passionate idolm@ster fans all over the world. But for years, and years, and years, we have been denied the ability to take part in this franchise.

There of course, has been a lot of speculation as to why idolm@ster has not been translated (and note, I don't mean ONLY for Western Audiences, be very aware that MOST of South-East Asia speaks English more than Japanese, Korean or Traditional Chinese.) I won't begin to try to figure out what Bandai's decisions are on this, but I'm genuinely hoping that with this release on Steam, Bandai will look at and realise that there are many people wishing to just enjoy the franchise, the music, the characters and the love.

Bandai, I hope whatever is holding you back, you will change your mind. I honestly do not make posts like this at all. I think is my first time ever, and I've done it just for idolm@ster.

Let us play the game. It's on Steam. You could potentially make a killing.

And to anyone else reading this,

Every single small voice helps. Let Bandai hear you, and hopefully, with enough voices, we can make a change.

[Evangela]

If you really love Idolmaster to that point, you should try learning Japanese. It's very useful for your gaming, and can even use for other stuffs like making money.

[IchinoseP]

Hahaha speedrunning with Japanese text go brrrrrrr

[IchinoseP]

Well, at least the premise of the game, being "win a compo in a year", seems doable for speedrunning, unlike Stella Stage's more loose endgame.

[KitsuneRisu]

Originally posted by Evangela:

If you really love Idolmaster to that point, you should try learning Japanese. It's very useful for your gaming, and can even use for other stuffs like making money.

I appreciate your comment, but I don't have the luxury or the time to do so. Not everyone in the world has 'just learn a whole new language' as an option for many various reasons.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by KitsuneRisu:

...be very aware that MOST of South-East Asia speaks English more than Japanese, Korean or Traditional Chinese.)...

Imaginary Southeast Asia or real Southeast Asia?

[Evangela]

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by KitsuneRisu:

...be very aware that MOST of South-East Asia speaks English more than Japanese, Korean or Traditional Chinese.)...

Imaginary Southeast Asia or real Southeast Asia?

They do speak English more than Japanese/Chinese/Korean, yes. At least they teach English in schools. Some schools have Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans as optional secondary languages but not all the students choose to learn these languages.

Singapore is the only one in SEA (I'm not sure about Malaysia) that forces students to learn Chinese, but they also do the same for English.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Evangela:

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Imaginary Southeast Asia or real Southeast Asia?

They do speak English more than Japanese/Chinese/Korean, yes. At least they teach English in schools...

Do you live there or are you just repeating someone else's stereotype? Just for example: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-stereotypes/
This may be more or less true for megacities, but not for countries in general. The fact that someone studied English at school does not guarantee knowledge and proficiency in English.

[Evangela]

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by Evangela:

They do speak English more than Japanese/Chinese/Korean, yes. At least they teach English in schools...

Do you live there or are you just repeating someone else's stereotype? Just for example: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-stereotypes/
This may be more or less true for megacities, but not for countries in general. The fact that someone studied English at school does not guarantee knowledge and proficiency in English.

It's not stereotyping. What I'm talking about is that they speak English "better" than Japanese/Chinese/Korean. They may not speak perfect English but at least they do it better than Japanese/Chinese/Korean for sure (except for Singapore where most people are fluent in both English and Chinese). I'm not living there but I was born in one of the SEA countries.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Evangela:

...What I'm talking about is that they speak English "better" than Japanese/Chinese/Korean. They may not speak perfect English but at least they do it better than Japanese/Chinese/Korean for sure (except for Singapore where most people are fluent in both English and Chinese)...

Do Chinese speak English better than Chinese? Do Japanese people know English better than Japanese? Have Koreans also forgot their language and switched to English? It's amazing...

Upd.: Oh yes! It is discouraging that for some reason players constantly complain about the unreliability and poor quality of the translations and the lack of dubs... But based on your reasons, it should be incredibly simple and cheap. Or is it deliberate sabotage?

[askasys]

Originally posted by Evangela:

If you really love Idolmaster to that point, you should try learning Japanese. It's very useful for your gaming, and can even use for other stuffs like making money.

Look at my case, I know japanese, I know english, my native language is one from Europe, I understand also a couple of other european languages, I've planned to study some russian.
But... I have no way to buy this game

[KitsuneRisu]

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by KitsuneRisu:

...be very aware that MOST of South-East Asia speaks English more than Japanese, Korean or Traditional Chinese.)...

Imaginary Southeast Asia or real Southeast Asia?

Please don't speak for my culture, my country, or my people. I don't need your type of person to challenge my life.

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by Evangela:

...What I'm talking about is that they speak English "better" than Japanese/Chinese/Korean. They may not speak perfect English but at least they do it better than Japanese/Chinese/Korean for sure (except for Singapore where most people are fluent in both English and Chinese)...

Do Chinese speak English better than Chinese? Do Japanese people know English better than Japanese? Have Koreans also forgot their language and switched to English? It's amazing...

the fact that you think that China, Japan and Korea are part of SEA betrays your ignorance. Get out of here, you absolute coconut.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by KitsuneRisu:

...the fact that you think that China, Japan and Korea are part of SEA betrays your ignorance...

This game is regionally locked and supports Chinese, Japanese and Korean. I assume that the Steam version will be available for these countries, and these are the countries that bring the greatest income to the publisher. Personally, I have not seen an official announcement for the sale of this game in other regions.

[Evangela]

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by Evangela:

...What I'm talking about is that they speak English "better" than Japanese/Chinese/Korean. They may not speak perfect English but at least they do it better than Japanese/Chinese/Korean for sure (except for Singapore where most people are fluent in both English and Chinese)...

Do Chinese speak English better than Chinese? Do Japanese people know English better than Japanese? Have Koreans also forgot their language and switched to English? It's amazing...

Upd.: Oh yes! It is discouraging that for some reason players constantly complain about the unreliability and poor quality of the translations and the lack of dubs... But based on your reasons, it should be incredibly simple and cheap. Or is it deliberate sabotage?

You probably misunderstood the conversation. We aren't not talking about "East Asia" right now. It's "Southeast Asia."

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Evangela:

You probably misunderstood the conversation. We aren't not talking about "East Asia" right now. It's "Southeast Asia."

Yes, my mistake (however, the Upd. remains in effect). But then, even more so, it is unlikely that your region is able to provide the publisher with such a high profit as to spend money on the implantation of English and thereby additionally motivate and facilitate the work of pirates.

And I will remind you of the regional blocking again. So far, I've seen the official announcement of the game for Japan only.

[Evangela]

Originally posted by 2d0x:

Originally posted by Evangela:

You probably misunderstood the conversation. We aren't not talking about "East Asia" right now. It's "Southeast Asia."

Yes, my mistake. But then, even more so, it is unlikely that your region is able to provide the publisher with such a high profit as to spend money on the implantation of English and thereby additionally motivate and facilitate the work of pirates.

Whatever... I'm not one of those people demanding English.

In fact, I'd like to see more Japanese games getting released on Steam without relying on the western branch of the publishers. In the past, a PC port of a game must be done by the western branch along with English translation, so people who don't care about English translation will have to wait for the PC port and only get to play the game after the western version has been released.

It seems like the Japanese publishers are now releasing their games without relying on the western branch more and more. Ciel & Ar no Surge are also getting Japanese release soon.

If they have a plan to release it in English in the future, they can update it later. But people who know Japanese shouldn't have to wait for it.