Dear Reader:
30,000 people signed up for Mother 3 fan translation notification
A portion of a UGO interview with Reid Young, co-founder of Starmen.Net…
UGO: What implications, if any, do you think fan translations like MOTHER 3 and Persona have on the games industry? The games community?
REID: I really think they’re indicators of a market that’s being ignored. The gaming industry seems to be on-the-fence about how they want to handle fan translations, but the fact that no one has said, ‘Hey, there is a legitimate business opportunity here,’ kind of surprises me. We’ve got 30,000 people signed up to get an email when the translation is released; Nintendo’s marketing department would pay untold sums of money to get their hands on an email list that huge and highly targeted. The fans have huge potential, which has gone largely ignored by the industry, something we’re hoping to change. Starmen.Net has proven, beyond a doubt, that there is a giant pool of amazing talent in well-managed fan communities.