President Of ‘Trails’ And ‘Ys’ Series Developer Nihon Falcom Says He Sees “Potential For AI Translation In Terms Of Shortening The Time It Takes To Deliver Content To Overseas Customers And Improving Accuracy”
In throwing his hat into the ongoing debate surrounding the future relationship between AI and overseas localizations of Japanese media, Nihom Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo says that he’s at least optimistic towards the idea that the technology could both help get his studio’s games, particularly those in their signature Trails series, to players quicker and improve the accuracy of their respective translations.
Kondo, who prior to his 2007 appointment to studio boss served in a variety of roles at the Trails and Ys series developer since starting at there in 1998 after his The Legend of Heroes III: White Witch fan site got him his foot in the door, spoke to his thoughts on the burgeoning AI localization scene during a recent interview given to the Japanese video game news outlet 4Gamer at the recent Tokyo Game Show 2024.
Thereat, the outlet invited Kondo to review a series of Japanese-to-English AI translations made from text originally found in the upcoming The Legend of Heroes: Trails of the World -Farewell, O Zemuria- and produced by the fledgling ELLA localization engine.
Pressed for his thoughts on the respective results, Kondo asserted, as machine translated via DeepL, “There were times when the translator got minor subtleties wrong, but at the same time, I felt that he translated some parts so well that I was sometimes surprised to see that he translated them exactly as they were written. Although there are still areas where human translators are not as good as they used to be, I can’t help but think that this is an amazing technology compared to what we had a decade ago.”
“I myself used to play PC games made overseas that were translated into Japanese, and I think the text used was probably at the level of first-person translation nowadays,” said the studio president. “Compared to that, the translation of ‘ELLA’ is at a much higher level. Also, since the AI is learning more and more, I feel that even if human intervention is necessary in the end, it will save a lot of work time in the future.”
Next asked by his hosts as to whether he not he held “any concern that ‘human jobs will be taken away'”, as “especially in the English-speaking world, negative opinions about AI translation seem to stand out,” Kondo admitted in turn, “I myself believe that it is inevitable if the trend in the world is toward the use of AI.”
“In England in the early 19th century, the ‘Luddite Movement’ took place when workers opposed the introduction of machines, and perhaps a similar phenomenon is occurring,” he explained. “I also had the experience of living in Thailand when I was a child, and I was told that there was a time when the local people were said to have lost their jobs because the Japanese brought in all sorts of things. I think it is natural for people to think in this way.”
“It is a historical fact that a mechanized society has changed the role of human beings and created a society of a higher rank,” he continued. “As for games, until now only well-known titles have been translated, but if it becomes easier to translate into multiple languages even slightly geeky titles that appeal to a certain segment of the population, this will be a great benefit to game creators, and not a bad thing for gamers either. Some people may lose their jobs temporarily, but overall, I believe that society will enjoy the benefits of AI in the future. This will be especially true for game development.”
To this end, 4Gamer moved to ask Kondo if there was any “possibility that Nihon Falcomwill introduce AI translation”.
In reply, the president detailed, “Speed is also an important factor in game development. Until about 20 years ago, 80-90% of our customers for our titles were Japanese. Recently, however, the percentage of overseas customers is increasing, especially in Asia. If our games do not sell well overseas, we may not be able to deliver them to Japanese customers. Given this, we see potential in AI translation in terms of shortening the time it takes to reach overseas customers and improving accuracy.”
Met with the observation from the outlet that “The more global the game market becomes, the more important it becomes to overcome language barriers,” Kondo further affirmed, “The Trails series is a game where you enjoy the story, so human power is still needed to make final adjustments to the translated words and lines. However, by delegating the primary translation work up to that point to an AI, could the entire process be compressed? In turn, this may speed up the development process. From a managerial point of view, I think it would be a good idea.”
“The Trails series cannot be released simultaneously worldwide because the amount of text is several times larger than that of a typical RPG,” he said. “Because the amount of text is many times larger than that of a typical RPG. We have to work on the Japanese version until the very last minute, and then the translation process begins, so the overseas version inevitably comes out a year later at the earliest. Under such circumstances, if we can release the overseas version six months later or at the same time by using AI translation, it would be a great thing for us as a business owner, and not a bad thing for the fans.”
Ultimately, Kondo closed out his the AI discussion by acknowledging the uncertainty felt by “some staff members at Falcom who remain cautious about AI, especially among designers.”
“They are in a position where their drawings and designs could be illegally used for AI, so I understand their apprehension,” he asserted. “This is a different situation from translation, but we would like to find a better way to use AI, without denying humans or AI.”
“We cannot escape from new technologies as they emerge, and we would like to deal with them well while keeping a close eye on the challenges,” he concluded.
The next Nihom Falcom title scheduled for an international release, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II, is currently set to deliver an English dub of the game to PC and Nintendo Switch consoles across the world on February 14th, 2025.
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