SAG-AFTRA announced a new deal for localization work as part of its ongoing negotiations and strike representing voice talent seeking AI and employment protections.
While more than 130 companies have agreed to interim agreements with the union for various projects, the Independent Interactive Localization Agreement is a specific deal that covers localization. If companies are willing to agree to the terms, then they can hire SAG-AFTRA talent for localization. Some of the companies that have agreed to interim deals already decided to agree to interim localization agreements.Now other companies can move ahead with this contract to localize scripts that were originally written in languages other than English.
So what does this mean? There are some games that did not have localization deals in place, in light of the strike. One that comes to mind is Pearl Abyss, which released Land of the Morning Light - Seoul for Black Desert Online in September, all in the original Korean, with full subtitles, in order to not have delays in the content’s release.
In announcing this decision, they said:
“After much deliberation on how to best proceed for our adventurers who have been eagerly waiting, we have decided to release the content earlier, but with subtitles in each region’s language with the Korean voiceover instead. Of course, we are still working on the dubbing for the content, and we plan to apply an update as soon as the work is finished.”
Now that there is an overall contract in place that allows for actors to work on localization projects, we'll see how many of these are announced in the coming days and weeks.
