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NEWS: Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuisō PSP/PS3 Game to Ship in 2011

Not in a million years.

If an RPG couldn't make it over here then this game doesn't stand a chance.

Emerje

So setting aside the reality that this will never be brought over here. . . .

IF the Japanese were willing to license this to someone for localization, are there any numbers floating about for what that would cost? I often find myself envious of the Japanese getting to have so many anime-related games while no export for us remains close to a actual corporate policy.

What exactly goes into localizing a game anyway? (Yes, I know the basics of translation and such but what does that really entail? How extensive and expensive is it?)

I mean, is localization a PSP/PS3 game like this a multi-million dollar deal or a thousands of dollars range deal?

Costs I can think of:

Licensing: the game itself, music tracks, and voice actors,
Translation,
English voice acting costs (no you can't just keep the Japanese Sony won't let you unless it has English voice as well),
Recoding the game engine to insert the translation (depends how it was made to start with),
QA testing it all again,
ratings board fees,

The other stopping point is getting it licensed/ approved by the console manufacturer. SoA (Sony of America) or SoE (Europe) have different rules to Sony (Japan). The problematic ones are bigger minimum print runs, the restriction on keeping original voice (see above) and no visual novels.