***Rumor***

Oh no…Here we go again

You know. One would think that Nintendo would have learned their lesson by now when it comes to all the previous scandals involving Treehouse. Well, obviously not. As it´s said that Nintendo has once again given Treehouse another Western localization work assignment (will Treehouse be able to top their “Fire: Emblem Fates” localization disaster?). Because rumours (it´s based on the fact that Treehouse has hosted a lot of “Star Fox Zero” Nintendo Direct events) has it that TreeHouse has been assigned the job to localize “Star Fox Zero” in the West (the game is set for a release to the Wii U on the 22nd of April). And when that became publicly known Gamers and “Star Fox”fans became quite upset and angry:

And so it begins.

In my opinion, you can´t blame them for feeling like that though (I hope the “Star Fox Zero”localization thing is just a bad joke about Treehouse). I mean, the mere thought of “the Fire: Emblem Fates memes from hell” makes me shiver like crazy (“Rrrrghg rawrgghh rrh! That´s dragon for I love you!” Anyone?). Let´s just say that I´m happy to know that Treehouse won´t handle the localization of “Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon”… Any ways, as I see it. “Star Fox Zero” will be the moment of truth for Treehouse, because I don´t think that they (nor Nintendo) can afford yet another bad localization pr-nightmare. Besides, Gamers have had just about enough with Treehouse in general. And speaking of which, this is what some people had to say about Treehouse and their said localization of “Star Fox Zero” via Twitter:

“im out, japan only from now on”

“If Treehouse touches this game and it’s fucked up, I just might cry…”

“I thought Treehouse wasn’t doing this one! Tell me it isn’t so!”

“Treehouse should be shut down”

Terrible paychecks equal bad Western localizations?

I understand where people are coming from, especially due to the past, Treehouse scandals and their bad localization job with “Fire: Emblem Fates”. However, I think that there might be more to Treehouse than reaches the eye. Please allow me to explain. You see. Rumors has it that Nintendo pays their Western localization staff members (and staff in general) rather badly (that´s most likely why Alison Rapp had to have several different jobs besides her job at Treehouse). My point would be this. “Maybe” one of the reasons behind why “Fire: Emblem Fates” got such a terrible Western localization, is because Nintendo pays people with cents and pennies? In short, Treehouse gets the staff and the game localizations it pays for (and they only do what they are paid for, no more, no less).

If there´s any truth to the rumors about Nintendo paying people very badly, then “maybe” there´s a connection between that and Treehouse´s bad Western localizations? (you get what you pay for).

Sure, I don´t know if there´s any truth to this. Nevertheless, I wouldn´t be surprised to hear that it’s, in fact, 100% true (do you remember what Nintendo did with “Xenoblade Chronicles X“?). Because lousy paid staff usually tends to give zero damns about quality (nor the outcome of a bad Western localization for that matter). So I would love to know how much Nintendo paid Treehouse to handle the “Fire: Emblem Fates” localization. Especially since I´ve been told that there are translation studios that could do a really good localization job for about 5,000 USD.

Is it really worth risking 59,99 USD for a game that “might” end up getting a bad localization by Treehouse? I sure don´t think so at least.

Then again, one could argue that there are fan-translation groups (mangas, animes, games, you name it!) that could (and has done) a better job than Treehouse has uptil this point. And fair enough, that´s true. However, even though I really wish that Nintendo would pick another localization studio to handle “Star Fox Zero” (and any of their future game titles). I have no knowledge of Nintendo pulling the plug on Treehouse.

So I guess that it´s going to be a “do or die” kind of moment for Treehouse in the case with “Star Fox Zero”. On a personal level though, I´m not all that super excited about “Star Fox Zero” now that I know that Treehouse will handle the localization of the game. And I´m probarly not the only person out there that´s having thoughts about buying the Japanese version on release (tou know, just to be on the safe side of things?). Because who wants to risk $59,99 for a game that might end up being yet another FEF localization job from hell? Just saying…But just like Vae (@GI_Blues) ‏said on twitter “Let them try. When they fuck up another game and sales plummet, somebody up top will want answers”.

So only time will tell what the outcome will be. However, we will know for sure when “Star Fox Zero” launches for the Wii U on the 22nd of April in the States (April 24th in EU). As the review scores and sale numbers will speak for itself.

With that said, what´s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Credit:
Prince Scott
Best Mom Eva

Source:
Chris Pranger Ex-Treehouse employee
Lunar Archivist
TorrentialDownpour

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

***Disclosure***
I don´t like Treehouse all that much.