Square Enix Exec on localisations: "often not possible"

[CrankyStorming]

Square Enix Americas/Europe CEO Phil Rogers just posted a response to his blog post [http://na.square-enix.com/us/blog/note-phil-rogers-ceo] (look in the comment section) responding to people asking about various games people want brought to their country

So thanks for all the feedback ? certainly been a lot to get through, but I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and opinions on what we should be focusing on, what you?re passionate about, and also hearing your messages of support and questions. As a first step, whilst I've been out in Tokyo this week, I?ve been sorting the comments, messages and emails into the topics that you?ve been most vocal about. The most common topic is for us to localise and bring some of our games (which have already been available in Japan) to the West, next are requests about Dragon Quest in the West, a Final Fantasy VII remake and then there are some suggestions and requests for more information on our Tomb Raider sequel.
That?s not an exhaustive list by any means, there are many different questions, so if your comment?s not one of those, it?s not being ignored ? but I will aim to answer the most-asked questions first. That said, in the spirit of openness I have got to flag that localising previously released games is often not possible when the original team members have moved onto other projects. I will look into this but I don?t want to get anybody?s hopes up.
Please keep the comments and emails flowing and thanks again for your passion.

Not always possible? That hasn't stopped fan translations in the past from people who weren't even on the dev team in the first place.

 

[ThriKreen]

Depends on how integrated the text is to the game. One where it is hardcoded would require a dev team member to know the code and how to change it around, instead of an easily referenced string number where you can update a database table and lookup. Often as is the case with older games, localization isn't a primary thought when developing the game so quite a lot of it is probably hardcoded in some manner. =(

 

[Maximum Bert]

I think they mean not possible as in not possible without expending time and resources we are unwilling to commit due to our belief that it will cost us more than we gain which could be correct in many circumstances.

Now about that FFVII remake.......