El videojuego The Walking Dead: análisis de la localización al español y nueva propuesta

Abstract

Since the video games industry has become one of the biggest entertainment markets in the world, the need of a new field in translation has been created: game localisation, which shares features of written translation and software localisation, combined with its unique characteristics. When the product to be localised is a videogame, there are usually many elements that constrain the translation, such as time or space, depending on its genre and its own features. In this paper, we analyse the “official localisation” made by fans of some pieces of episode 1 of the The Walking Dead videogame, which has a very bad reputation on the internet, and we suggest a new localisation proposal adapted for Spaniards. Moreover, due to the big amount of complaints received on the localisation of this game and many others of the same company, we also explain Telltale Games’ position regarding the localisation of its products. The analysis shows that the official localisation has many translation and localisation issues, which we see repeated throughout the game, such as dialectal differences, inconsistencies and changes in meaning, grammatical and orthographical errors, loss of nuances, literal translation, interjections, and capital letters. Additionally, we show that Telltale Games is barely interested in localising its products, and those few localised use fansubs. The analysis and Telltale Games’ thoughts regarding localisation suggest that it is necessary for videogames, especially those with a lot of text, to be localised by well-trained professionals with an extensive knowledge of the product and the market.