Original Source: http://b23.tv/agyv0qa
Translator/Proofreader: Hansuke
Editors: Zans/Lanju
(Anyways let's us get down into the official interview).
Introduction: Clouded Leopard Entertainment is a company founded in 2019 by Ms. Yuen-Yuen Chen, who was formerly the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Chinese Localization Center. Ms. Chen, who has been previously worked on Chinese localization of Japanese games for over 20 years, she initially wanted to act as a third party company to promote the Chinese localization style to cross-platform works, thereby connecting the Japanese and overseas markets which lead to her founding Clouded Leopard Entertainment.
On this occasion of the fourth anniversary of the founding of Clouded Leopard Entertainment, we recently visited the company in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, and had a long overdue face-to-face interivew with Ms. Chen. With the voices of players within the A9VG community, we talked to Ms. Chen about her memories of founding of Clouded Leopard Entertainment, its development over the four years, Falcom-related games, Chinese localization efforts, and other topics.
Reporter: First of all, I would like to convey the voices of many A9VG community members who admire Ms. Chen's in good health. You are a individual who really has a passion of loving games and has made a lot of contributions of the Chinese language in games, and we hope that your career will continue to flourish in the future.
Yuen-Yuen Chen/Rei Watanabe: Thank you very much, the business can only flourish with the support of the player base (laughs). The Chinese players have always been very concerned about the Chinese localization, before all of this I was still working at Sony when we are very supportive of our Chinese Culture Center, and with everyone's support we have the means to take it step by step from more than ten years ago all the way to the present.
Initially, my idea was to promote the game to more players, which let me joined Sony, however my time at Sony, the Chinese Localization Team can only do a few things and Sony-platform related works, and in recent years the Nintendo Switch and PC(Steam) is also getting very popular in Asia, when let me to feel that I can't make more progress in development at Sony, then I thought if I come out to do my own entrepreneurship, maybe I can expamd to other things out of it in the process. Maybe I can do something other projects and works by myself. It's been four years since Cloud Leopard Entertainment was founded, and we've grown to over 40 employees, so there's a lot more we can do compared to what we started out with in the beginning.
Reporter: How many people were there in the beginning?
Chen: It is just only me.
Reporter: At that time, if you wanted to make a Chinese localization for these games you received, did you try to translate them on your own?
Chen: I wanted to translate it myself, but I entirely gave up within three days (laughs).
Reporter: What's the biggest difference between having worked at Sony and what you're doing now after founding Clouded Leopard Entertainment?
Chen: In the past, I am only needed to manage the Chinese localization, however currently I have to leave most of Chinese localization work to others and then go to help them to solve other problems. In addition to Chinese localization, I have to be involved in QA quality assurance, marketing, personnel, finance, operation and so on, there is a lot of things that I have to personally worry about.
Reporter: That's really difficult.
Chen: There are a lot of differences between what I learned in the past and what I'm currently doing, and it's really hard work, but what I've learned in these four years is not the same as what I've learned in Sony in those past ten years, and it's actually very fulfilling.
Reporter: Will you still be directly involved in these games that is work related to Chinese localization?
Chen: I still go to see some important things in person and discuss them with the staff, giving them some guidance. However, the localization part is handed over to the localization team, and there is an important member that manages for each titles.
Note: (Laura W. is the Localization Director for Clouded Leopard Entertainment).
Reporter: What are those "key points" ?
Chen: For example, the choice of fonts, which may affect the overall style of these games. Of course, this will also be given to the localization team to discuss it over, and sometimes if I think it doesn't look right, I'll make some personal suggestions. Also, when translating the Chinese version of the game titles, those translation will be based on the meaning of how to express it in those works, and I will exchange opinions with the localization team on those aspects.
Reporter: Will CLE consider observing the players opinions and voices of the Chinese community, for example, if a certain game has not been available in Chinese, and the players' voices are high, will you consider doing the Chinese version of that say game and officially published it?
Chen: Of course I will considered. Many enthusiastic players will send emails to our customer service mailbox, saying that they hope to make so game into having a Chinese version, and we will refer to these opinions by observing what the market wants for the games and having a Chinese localization.
Reporter: There are many players in our community that explain to me that you did Chinese Localization for series such as Shin Hayarigami, Zero Escape, and Kingdom Hearts (laughs).
Chen: The Chinese version of Kingdom Hearts 3 is the last work I ever done before I left Sony, and it's up to my old boss to decide whether or not the previous works in the Kingdom Hearts series can be released in Chinese(laughs). For the other works we will look at the market and players' feedback, if there is an opportunity we will actively promote the localization for them.
Reporter: Then I'll ask players fanbase to send more of those emails to into those mailbox (laughs).
Chen: Respfecfully, please don't clog up our mailboxes (laughs). When I was at Sony, people were stuffing the mailboxes since they wanted to have a Chinese version of The Legend of Heroes: Sen No Kiseki.
(-Falcom-) section
Reporter: For the past four years since its founding, CLE has released so many games in that time, which one of them has sold the best?
Chen: It will be the The Legend of Heroes: Kiseki series, because the Chinese version was released at a similar time frame. Also it was within a time frame which the accumulated sales were a lot more, and Kiseki gets the most feedbacks from players after each of the releases. Then there is "Kuro No Kiseki", the game itself received positive reception, which many new players really wanted to try and play this one.
Reporter: Is there any particular area that CLE spefcially prefers when it comes to publishing games?
Chen: Actually, there is no special preferences, although it seems like we do more Nihon Falcom titles, ARPG and other RPGs. I hope that through promotions and other aspects from within Clouded Leopard Entertainment, that these games themselves can reach some breakthroughs and meet the needs of players and their developers.
Reporter: Speaking of the Kiseki series, many Chinese players hope that Sora No Kiseki FC/SC/3rd Evolution on the PS Vita platform will be released on PS4/Switch/PC and other platforms, and I would like to ask if there is any possibility for CLE to get the publishing rights and make a port of them?
Chen: The original coding of the game was made for the PS Vita platform, so if it is ported to today's platforms it may not be able to satisfy the players' demand for quality, and a lot of optimization work that is needed to be done. In fact, every time the "Kiseki" series of new works are on sale we will see players leave messages like we hoping that "Sora No Kiseki" can be remastered or ported on today's platforms and so on, we also hear comments about them as well from time to time. However the specifics to how to achieve this still needs to communication with Falcom to explore those options, we also do not quite want to anyone who have platforms such as the PS5 to play those graphics that is not fully optimize,etc.
Reporter: Speaking of the technical side, when it comes to technical problems, are they usually solved by CLE themselves or do they go to the original developer of the games?
Chen: It mainly depends on which side of the game development is done, for example, we are doing the final product versions of some Falcom games, so we solve those problems by ourselves, of course, we will go to Falcom for technical assistance if necessary.
Some of those problems we will look to the original developer to solve those issues, we will also give some technical support, such as how to import to the Chinese libraries and so on.
Reporter: Many players feel that CLE games are rarely discounted. In addition, Falcom's games can often be found in the second slot of PlayStation Plus Extra members in Japan, Europe and the United States, but not on the Asian (Hong Kong) side. Has CLE ever considered doing more sales promotions or putting their own games into the PS PLUS membership subscription service?
Chen: It's not that we won't do it, it's just that the decision to join PS PLUS is on SIE's side. If the players want to see Chinese versions of Falcom's games added to PS PLUS, please be sure to visit SIE and give us your opinion about them.
Reporter: We have seen that some of the games released by Clouded Leopard support Simplified Chinese and some only have Traditional Chinese, how is this decided? Is there any chance that Simplified Chinese will become the standard in the future?
Chen: From our point of view, of course we hope that both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are available for the individual, and we also hope that players in Simplified Chinese regions can look at the language they are more familiar with. However, it's not easy to translate with both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese at the same time, especially for games like Falcom's RPGs, which have a large amounts of text, and we worried about the quality of the final product, which may end up not being good enough for either sides. We also want to make sure that we provide as many languages as possible at a certain level capacity of quality.
Reporter: So you have two separate teams for Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, as I know currently that some businessperson choose to translate only one being a Simplified Chinese (or Traditional Chinese) version, and then automatically convert it to another version and release it with a few changes.
Chen: We basically have two teams which are for Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. You said that this method is also used by other businnesperson, but it's just that you need to be able to convert from Simplified Chinese to Traditional Chinese or how to change from Traditional Chinese to Simplified Chinese, and that's only possible if we can do it properly. Both methods can be utilized, but whether the quality of the final product and the proofreading are in line with the habits of the players who use that specific language is the most crucial part.
Reporter: Have you considered adding more Chinese voices in the future?
Chen: For players of Falcom's Kiseki and Ys, there are probably more people who are looking forward to the simultaneous release of the Chinese version than the additions of a Chinese Dub. We've added Chinese Dub to previous titles such as Onechanbara and Earth Defense Force, and we'll actively consider adding Chinese Dub if it's more immersive for the player. Of course, we will also keep the Japanese dub, so that players can choose their favorite dub.
Reporter: Speaking of Earth Defense Force, will Clouded Leopard continue to release Chinese versions of the Earth Defense Force series in the future?
Chen: We certainly hope to continue to do the series in Chinese if we have that opportunity.
Reporter: After the establishment of the Clouded Leopard to the present just in time for the epidemic these years, these years have not encountered any difficulties, how to overcome?
Chen: There are so many difficulties that I can't even count them. When I first started my business, I didn't know how to do a lot of things, including how to manage the company's finances, how to do marketing campaigns, how to sign contracts and so on, because I only needed to manage the Chinese version of the games in Sony, and I could ask the other departments that I knew what I didn't know, but I didn't have anyone to ask when I started the business all by myself. I was short-staffed at the beginning, but many of my former Sony colleagues joined Clouded Leopard one after another to help me out, which helped me share a lot of the load and pain.
The first game we released, "Ys 9", we wanted to hold an event at the Taipei Game Show, but it turned out at the that the epidemic happened, we couldn't do anything about it, and even the voice actors had already been arranged, and in the end, we decided temporarily to do a live broadcast on the Internet, and from the time we decided to do a live broadcast to the broadcast of the program was only within three days, and none of us had ever done a live broadcast before, and in the end, we all worked together to find a way to fix the issue.
Reporter: There are about 40 to 50 people in Clouded Leopard as of currently, right? Is the localization work all done by a team of regular employees?
Chen: There are 42 regular employees in the Tokyo head office plus the Korean and Taiwan branches, and along with some testers. Some of the localization work is done by the regular staff, some is done by outsourcing companies, which when the translation is outsourced, our regular staff will do the proofreading, and then put it into the game after confirming that there are no other problems.
Reporter: Have you considered opening a branch in mainland China in the future?
Chen: I would like to open a branch, but I don't know where to start, maybe I should rent a helicopter and fly around before deciding (laughs). If there's a chance, maybe we'll set up a branch in mainland China to provide more services to Chinese players in the mainland.
Reporter: In addition to publishing and localization, has Clouded Leopard ever considered making thier own games?
Chen: When Clouded Leopard was first founded, I thought that one day we would be able to develop some games that were born because they were made by Clouded Leopard, so maybe that's an ultimate goal for the future. However, as of this month, we have only been around for 4 years and we are still a very small company, which we don't have a lot of resources to develop games yet, and we will move towards this goal one step at a time.
Reporter: Falcom doesn't really have many employees (laughs).
Chen: They have about 60 people, we are still 20 people short (laughs).
Reporter: Do you also look at player feedback on translation quality?
Chen: We look at it all, myself and the localization and the QA teams. The translation from everyone's point of view may have a different perspective and meaning. This aspect of our internal development will be discussed and then the objective of the translation will be judge upon, if it is indeed a problem, then we will fix the problem through a patch.
Reporter: Has CLE ever considered pushing some of its Chinese-developed games to Japan?
Chen: Of course, if we can receive such a demand we will definitely consider it, and they are always welcome to contact us through the official website contact information. We also hope that we can work with Chinese developers to communicate and cooperate with each other to promote their games to Japan, other parts of Asia, and even Europe and the United States.
Reporter: Let's ask some questions about yourself. Which is your favorite game that CLE Entertainment has released since its establishment?
Chen: (Pointing to "Kuro No Kiseki" after a long thoughtful process) I think it's the most groundbreaking game, and it's different from Falcom's previous styles, both in terms of combat and plot presentation. What surprised me the most was that "the original Legend of Heroes series still kills off characters" (laughs).
Reporter: I wonder if there's a connection between the Chinese staff joining Falcom and the breakthrough in the Legend of Heroes "Kiseki" series (laughs).
Chen: There should be an impact on its game development. Of course, President Kondo mentioned that Falcom did not intentionally recruit Chinese employees, but when he saw that many of them who came to Falcom to apply for the job positions within the company. Many of those who were the most enthusiastic and wanted to join Falcom to develop the game were Chinese gamers from the mainland, and they also possessed good abilities (that's why they finally accepted them in the end). It takes not just personal abilities but also the "passion" to develop games, otherwise it won't be sustainable in the long run. Which we always are looking forward to the future development of the games released by Falcom last year and this year, in which the Chinese employees have contributed and had a positive impact," said President Kondo.
Reporter: Besides the games published by CLE, what is another favorite game you personally like?
Chen: (After another long thoughtful process) It would have to be Tales of Destiny 2. I bought the JP version at the time, and when I first played it, the plot was great. Which I thought that if I made a CN version, the players would definitely like it, so I always kept saying in Sony that "I want to make a CN version of this game, and who will take me to Bandai Namco to submit a request".
Reporter: Thanks to your hard work, the CN version is now available, and I really like the game as well.
Chen: This game has a great influence on my ability to continue to do Chinese works in the future. It’s unique plot really touched me, and that's what I liked about it. The plot really touched me, and that's what I liked about it in the beginning. When I started to do Chinese translations, I realized that it's not as simple as just liking it, it's about figuring out what the producers/writers are thinking, and each character are feeling.
I learned a lot from working on this game, and the localization also affects the audience feels who plays the game. At that time, I was also in charge of some marketing work, and it was this game that made me determined to make localization a bigger goal in the future.
Reporter: Lastly, would you like to say a few words to Chinese gamers before wrapping the interview?
Chen: CLE was just founded four years ago and is still a small company, we really appreciate everyone's support in these past four years.We also heard a lot of encouraging words, although there are many difficulties during this time period, but the players' affirmation allows us to persevere evermore down the line which we are ever grateful.
We also finally have the opportunity to make "Ys X: Nordics" Chinese version of a simultaneous release alongside with the JP version, we also hope that players can support "Ys X" and the future of this game. Anyone who wants to communicate and give us feedback is welcome to contact us through our email, and if we have the opportunity, we'd love to hold an event in China to give everyone a chance to communicate directly with us. We hope you will continue to support us. Thank You!
Fin
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