'Far Cry 5' Release Date, News: Ubisoft Explains How Arabic Localization Was Achieved
"Far Cry 5" is officially being localized in Arabic, which is a first in the history of the long-running first-person shooter action-adventure video game series.
The news was relayed on Twitter by Malek Teffaha, the Ubisoft Massive public relations manager for Middle East and North Africa:
Monumental day today. We finally announced that, for the first time ever, the FC series will be localized in Arabic with menus and subtitles!
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The accuracy of the "Far Cry 5" Arabic localization was confirmed by Rami Ismail, one half of the Dutch game studio Vlambeer, who tweeted "This is actually Arabic, and I think it is amazing news."
Teffaha talked more about this "Far Cry 5" feat in response to a Twitter user who asked why developers appear to fail to accurately achieve this lately.
He said that it was a challenge to incorporate in the game and the efforts they made to make it ultimately possible:
Arabic isn't an easy language to integrate, especially due to the flip in reading direction. Photoshop in particular is a huge culprit.
It reads the Arabic as English, and displays it flipped backwards. Luckily discussions internally are always ongoing to avoid such issues.
But still, when you mix Latin, and Arabic words together, that introduces a whole heap of issues as well. It's like traversing a mine field.
According to PCGamesN, Arabic localization is always overlooked in games due to challenges involving the language, piracy and cultural values it presents.
However, a game as massive as "Far Cry 5" serves as a big step to completely rectifying this issue, not to mention the fact that the game features bloody and violent elements.
It is expected that Ubisoft's move will pave the way for more studios to follow. Another title known to have Arabic localization is the simulation game "FIFA."
