Toby Fox Addresses Complaints About Game Translations

Toby Fox, the solo creator behind the indie sensations UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE, recently addressed the concerns of his non-Japanese and non-English-speaking fans in a post on Bluesky. He acknowledged the “frustration from Latin American fans” regarding the absence of localization for his games in their regions.

“Recently, Fangamer asked me to make a post in Japanese about the translation of OFF,” Fox explained. “In the responses to that post, I noticed some frustration from Latin American fans…”

This post referred to a celebration on X for the official Japanese translation of the 2025 re-release of Fangamer’s 2008 classic, OFF. Many of the top comments came from Latin American users expressing their disappointment. One comment read, “Translations seem to be a privilege nowadays, huh? For a game about inclusion, its creator seems to only care about Japanese people, and the worst is that said creator is practically a millionaire.”

You do know that there are OTHER languages besides English and Japanese, right? ????

— DylanXW3 – LEVEL5 FAN (@DylanXw3) March 28, 2026

In his Bluesky response, Fox elaborated on why both UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE lack translations beyond Japanese and English. “Unfortunately, there are no translations for UNDERTALE into other languages besides Japanese…” he stated.

“I know it sucks that there are no other official translations for UNDERTALE,” Fox continued, “But I want to clarify that this isn’t due to any grudge against other countries. It’s because I want any official version to align with my vision. I can only do this for the Japanese version because I know the language and worked closely with our brilliant translator to ensure the text was accurate.”

On X, several users defended Fox’s choice not to localize the game into other languages. “There’s a whole 271-page-long book about how UNDERTALE was translated into Japanese and how meticulous that process was and what sacrifices were made,” commented user DRN_003. “And you really expect that perfectionist guy to want to translate the game into a language he doesn’t know…”

I hate to be that person who talks about the loss of reading comprehension, but seriously, people need to understand that when a story relies on words and wordplay and double meanings, it’s harder to translate, and the author has to be involved in the process.

For some people…

— dᴇᴇ (@deejuusan) March 30, 2026

For context, one dedicated fan calculated that UNDERTALE “consists of 78,000 words in total,” which is actually 1,000 words longer than Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Fox also mentioned that translating DELTARUNE into other languages is “just not feasible from a development standpoint” at this time, as it would delay the game’s release.

While Fox’s reasoning is understandable, it may not provide much solace to those eager to experience his games in their native languages. He didn’t rule out the possibility of future translations, noting he might “try a different approach” to localization down the line. However, for now, he remains unmoved by the recent backlash.

Fox concluded his post on Bluesky by expressing, “I’m honored to have many fans across the world, and of course that includes Latin America too. I don’t want anyone to feel left out. I’m sorry if my silence made it seem like I was ignoring anyone.”