Nintendo of America Requires DEI Awareness of Localizers

Video Games

Remember when people reporting on Sweet Baby Inc. said that they and other woke video game consulting firms were just a symptom and that game developers and larger video game companies were part of the problem, too? Nintendo just proved everyone right. X user packergirl shared an image of a job ad Nintendo of America Inc. put out for a localization product specialist. The ad lists a “description of duties” for the position, and most of them make sense – translating game text, communicating “developer intent,” playing the games, etc. But one item on the duties list stands out: “Maintains awareness of culturalization- and DEI-related topics, identifying issues and proposing solutions as needed.” What that appears to mean is that localizers are expected to enforce DEI on the games as they suggest edits and translations. If you don’t know what a video game localizer is, it’s someone who adapts – or consults on the adaptation of – a video game for a different region, such as adapting one made in Japan so it will be understandable to American gamers.

Does @Nintendo know what their American branch is doing?🤔 pic.twitter.com/V5RdsUUq36

— packergirl (@p9cker_girl) April 3, 2024

Do you wonder why Sweet Baby Inc., Black Girl Gamers, Melanin Gamers, and a host of others get hired for consulting work? Well, look who hires them. This is not some niche gaming company; it’s Nintendo, of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and the newly released Princess Peach: Showtime! To be fair, this is specifically Nintendo of America, the North American subdivision of Nintendo, which is a Japanese company. Japan is mostly considered woke-averse, which is why packergirl questions whether they know that Nintendo of America is pushing DEI through their localizers in her post. And that’s a good question; these woke companies love to operate in the shadows because they know nobody likes this stuff. When you’re owned by a company from a culture that is known for disliking these practices, you’ve got even more incentive to keep it to yourself as much as possible. But the woke tend to be arrogant, and while they may be keeping it from Nintendo, they put it in their want ads. They placed it pretty high on the list, too; DEI is above translating meetings, making sure products are ESRB compliant, and translating for other departments of the company. You’d think those would be a little more important than a diversity checklist, but I guess not.

What makes this even funnier is that not long ago, localizers were whining about how their jobs were in jeopardy thanks to AI, which can translate games, books, manga, anime, or whatever on its own. Gamers and other fans responded by pointing out that AI would be better because it wouldn’t be biased and shove woke stupidity into what would otherwise be cool games and stories. (The Google AI thing that made George Washington black and gay didn’t happen yet.) The localizers threw a fit, of course, as all self-important people do, but here’s proof that they do exactly what gamers were accusing them of doing. That seems to be a recurring theme in the gaming world of late, doesn’t it? I recall Sweet Baby Inc. insisting they didn’t force their ideology into games, and video evidence of their CEO encouraging game developer employees to “terrify” their marketing teams into hiring a consulting firm like them surfacing. The rot runs deep.