Bethesda Game Studios lead and industry icon Todd Howard made a surprise appearance on Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show stream to share that his upcoming Space RPG, Starfield, will feature full Japanese localization.
Howard also hinted at the scope of the game as well, saying Starfield has over 150,000 lines of dialogue and over 300 voice actors. For comparison, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim featured roughly 60,000 lines of dialogue.
#Starfield 日本語完全ローカライズ決定。日本のキャストによるフルボイスでStarfieldが日本語ローカライズされることが本日発表されました。#XboxJP #TGS2021 pic.twitter.com/eCyhDhkD3Y
— Xbox Japan (@Xbox_JP) September 30, 2021
The first bit of information is the most important here. A game the size of Starfield recieving full Japanese translation is a huge step in Xbox’s goals of reaching the Japanese market. Xbox has made it no secret that they see an opportunity to grow in this market, one where they have been historically week. Having one of their biggest fully localized is just one step towards that growth.
The second bit of information is not surprising but does reaffirm that Starfield will be a massive Role Playing Game. Todd Howard has recently stated that Starfield is more of a “hardcore RPG” than previous games, and the news about the large dialogue pool gives hope that those words come to fruition.
