It took some time, but Project Sekai Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku is getting an English release as Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage. To help prepare, Siliconera spoke with Producer Tomokazu Ichikawa about the game. It turns out localization began once the Japanese version launched and, while it will be about a year behind, all updates are on the way.
Jenni Lada, Siliconera: When did localization work on Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage begin?
Tomokazu Ichikawa: As soon as we launched the Japanese version, we started assembling a team for global version, right around January 2021.
How much will be localized? For example will there be English subtitles for the Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage songs?
Ichikawa: We kept the original voice lines and song lyrics to preserve the unaltered atmosphere. The songs do not have subtitles but everything else from the story, interface, and other texts are translated into English.
Given how established the Vocaloids are in games, such as the Project Diva series, how difficult was it finding or maintaining personalities when localizing Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage?
Ichikawa: We utilized our experience with Diva series and constructed unique world for this game with many new characters, taking place in our real-life world.
There have been quite a few updates released for Project Sekai Colorful Stage feat. Hatsune Miku in Japan. How much of that content will be in Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage when the English version launches?
Ichikawa: Not all post-launch updates for Japanese version will be available for global version at launch. However, we will add every content update made to Japanese version to global version as well down the line. Also, we are preparing some timed-exclusive contents for global version as well.
In terms of events and updates, how big do you expect the gap to be between the Japanese and English versions of Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage?
Ichikawa: At the time of the launch, the global version will a little over an year behind in terms of the events and updates compared to the Japanese version. It would be difficult to catch up as we intend to run every event we ran for Japanese version, but we aim to catch up as soon as possible in terms of features and songs.
Have there been any unexpected challenges when preparing Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage for an English release?
Ichikawa: It was the first time for us to set up the team for release of mobile game in the west, so we were not certain how to form a line of communication between US and Japanese teams. We were unable to meet face to face due to COVID situation, but, ironically, it also helped us tremendously in terms of remote communication.
Will there be any global-exclusive events or songs in Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage?
Ichikawa: We are not at liberty to reveal anything concrete at the moment, but we aim to answer your request, building the game with you, the community.
Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage will come to Android and Apple iOS devices on December 7, 2021. It is immediately available in Japan as Project Sekai Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku.
