Steins;Gate developer MAGES says AI translation is a long way from being viable for visual novels 

In an October interview with Game*Spark (spotted by Kiri Kiri Basara), MAGES. president and CEO Makoto Asada talked about the hurdle of localizing text-heavy games into multiple languages, and why using AI translation is not a viable solution at this point. 

When it comes to visual novel games, Asada says translation costs are enormous, and releasing a localization also requires a thorough check of whether each fine nuance of the text has been conveyed as intended. In this context, he comments that “AI translation seems a long way from being practical.” 

As an example, Asada says that if you were to task AI with reproducing the unique speech styles of the characters appearing in STEINS;GATE, it would not be able to do so. He argues that AI can arrive at something that feels similar, but that it cannot fully capture a character. “For the time being, it’s a process that ultimately requires a human touch,” he says. 

As a company, MAGES. hardly seems hesitant to utilize AI in its smaller projects, as evident from the recent announcement of Juggernauts, an upcoming 90s style shooter that’s fully vibe-coded and heavily uses AI generated assets. However, it seems what when it comes to its bigger franchises, the developer is adopting a more cautious stance. 

Considering the high costs involved in localization, MAGES. has adopted the approach of giving simultaneous multi-language releases to its flagship Science Adventure series. When it comes to the rest of its portfolio, Asada says decisions to localize are made based on what the developers believe will be well-received internationally. Going forward, the CEO says he wants to carefully deliver the upcoming Memories Off remake to English-speaking audiences. 

Related: Trails in the Sky’s global publisher GungHo has no plans to use AI for localization. The complexity of the series’ vast universe “still requires human judgement”