Nintendo does not acknowledge all contributors to its games

A new report claims that Nintendo does not allow outside contractors – who help translate some of their biggest games – to be named and listed in a game’s credits. The company behind Super Mario These translators are sometimes even reportedly forced to sign ten-year non-disclosure agreements, making it nearly impossible for them to talk about their work or include it on their resume.

In a new report dated July 12 by GamesDeveloper.com

, Several sources who have helped localize major Nintendo games claim that they and their colleagues are not listed in the credits for titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Paper Mario: The Gate to Legend. These unnamed translators work on Nintendo games for months at a time. However, according to a source, Nintendo’s policy is not to name these employees individually. Instead, only internal transla tors employed by Nintendo are selected.

“If you look at the credits for Paper Mario: The Gate to LegendFor example, you will find that only six people were responsible for localizing a complete title available in eight languages,” a source told the outlet. “[In my experience] A game like this would normally be localized by a team of about 25 translators. Some languages ​​are skipped entirely, as if they were magically added to the game.”

Worse still, according to some outside translators, Nintendo forced them to sign a ten-year non-disclosure agreement that prohibits them from discussing or promoting their contributions to the game. GameDeveloper.com was able to independently confirm that these NDAs are genuine and have been used in several Nintendo projects.

“You’re working on an award-winning title that newspapers and magazines are raving about, and you’re forced to hide the fact that you were actually involved in it for ten years,” said a translator.

Nintendo did not respond to My city

or GameDeveloper.com.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon. Video game companies have consistently failed to include everyone WHO worked on a project in the credits of the gameAnd when it comes to third-party contractors and external teams, employees are often stuck between large companies that point fingers at each other but do nothing to actually help the people translating some of the biggest games released.

“It’s nearly impossible for translators to fight back against this structure,” one source explained. “Anyone who tries ends up blacklisted before they get anywhere. This is an area where an annual sabbatical can lock you out of work for months. Nobody cares what we think because there’s literally nothing we can do about it, and that’s true even if we were willing to give up our livelihoods for the greater good.”

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