{"id":62788,"date":"2026-03-12T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=62788"},"modified":"2026-03-12T15:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:13:45","slug":"developer-of-breakout-indie-hit-ooo-hasnt-decided-how-the-games-title-is-supposed-to-be-pronounced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/indie-games\/developer-of-breakout-indie-hit-ooo-hasnt-decided-how-the-games-title-is-supposed-to-be-pronounced\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer\u00a0of breakout\u00a0indie\u00a0hit\u00a0\u00d6oo\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0decided how the\u00a0game\u2019s title\u00a0is supposed to be pronounced\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Releasing to \u201cOverwhelmingly Positive\u201d reception on Steam in August last year, \u00d6oo <\/strong>is a puzzle platformer developed by Japanese indie creator NamaTakahashi. After being nominated<\/a> in the D.I.C.E Awards\u2019s game design category and getting picked up by publisher AMATA Games for expansion to consoles, the developer still hasn\u2019t decided how the game\u2019s title is officially supposed to be pronounced, albeit on purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unusual for a Japanese game, \u00d6oo uses a German o-umlaut in its title, which has generated much mystery about how it\u2019s supposed to be pronounced ever since the game\u2019s launch. Furthermore, since the string of letters was simply designed to resemble the form of a cartoonish caterpillar (referencing the game\u2019s playable character), it’s not exactly a word in the first place. For Japanese players, the name has even made the game tricky to look up on the Nintendo eShop, which the developer has suggested workarounds<\/a> for.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u00d6oo\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But when it comes to the correct pronunciation of \u00d6oo, NamaTakahashi recently told Denfaminicogamer<\/a> that he hasn\u2019t decided on one in the first place. Like Takahashi\u2019s previous game ElecHead, \u00d6oo draws influence from Terry Cavanagh\u2019s puzzle-platformer VVVVVV. As you may have noticed, this game too has a title that\u2019s hard to pronounce, so players have taken to nicknaming it various variations of \u201cSix Vs,\u201d \u201cThe Letter V Six Times\u201d and the like (though according to Cavanagh himself, the \u201cofficial\u201d pronunciation is simply \u201cvee\u201d). Likewise, NamaTakahashi wishes for \u00d6oo to also earn a nickname from its fanbase. At the moment, the most common ones are a long \u201coo\u201d like in \u201cpool,\u201d or simply \u201cBomb Caterpillar.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funnily, since the developer is adamant about not providing an official pronunciation for \u00d6oo, this means that during presentations and events where they talk about their game, they have to resort to vague replacements like \u201cThe Bomb Caterpillar game\u201d themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d6oo is available for PC (Steam<\/a>), Nintendo Switch and PS5. An Xbox Series X\u2758S release is scheduled for late March 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Indie title ElecHead earns praise from Yoko Taro, VVVVVV creator Cavanagh, and other industry figures<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unusual for a Japanese game, \u00d6oo uses a German o-umlaut in its title, which has generated much mystery about how it\u2019s supposed to be pronounced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":62795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-62788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDeveloper\u00a0of breakout\u00a0indie\u00a0hit\u00a0\u00d6oo\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0decided how the\u00a0game\u2019s title\u00a0is supposed to be pronounced\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unusual for a Japanese game, \u00d6oo uses a German o-umlaut in its title, which has generated much mystery about how it\u2019s supposed to be pronounced.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/indie-games\/developer-of-breakout-indie-hit-ooo-hasnt-decided-how-the-games-title-is-supposed-to-be-pronounced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Developer\u00a0of breakout\u00a0indie\u00a0hit\u00a0\u00d6oo\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0decided how the\u00a0game\u2019s title\u00a0is supposed to be pronounced\u00a0 - 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