• News

Fan translations of Iwata book subject to 'criminal charges'

There's an official translation coming, but don't take it upon yourself to do it first.

Brittany Vincent

August 2, 2019 11:30 AM

2

You may recall that the late (and exceptionally great) Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata  who departed our world is getting an upcoming Western book release after his death. 

The new book coming out down the line that compiles his popular Iwata Asks interview series into a book for the first time is in the works. The book will be brought to the market by planner company Hobonichi, which was actually Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi's company – that's why you see so many awesome Earthbound covers for the popular planners. But Hobonichi has a word of warning for anyone who would try to translate it and distribute it unofficially: 

“Currently, nothing is definite yet, but we are preparing publication of Iwata-san in various languages in consultation with Tuttle-Mori Agency,” said Hobonichi on its official site. “In the meantime, please note that translating this book into any languages for public distribution is a clear violation of copyright and will be subject to criminal charges. We ask for your understanding.”

Basically, don't try to tackle the project early on your own, or you might find yourself in legal trouble. If you're unfamiliar with the Iwata Asks series, it's an old collection of videos that found Iwata inquiring about different phases of the development process from different developers. Since Iwata was previously a programmer, he had plenty of unique viewpoints on game design and these segments ended up being quite popular, translated into English from Japanese so fans around the globe could appreciate them.

It's such a great tribute to Iwata's legacy, and it's our hope that we do get a nice, translated book since the translations are already basically done. Unfortunately, with these latest updates, we aren't sure when that will be. Time to start learning Japanese, apparently. 

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!