Toby Fox explains why Undertale and Deltarune are only in English and Japanese without more translations

Undertale and Deltarune creator Toby Fox has taken to social media and explained why his games don’t have more translations.

Fox originally released Undertale in English. Following that, he teamed up with Keiko Fuchicho and 8-4 to translate the game into Japanese. The same thing has essentially happened again with Deltarune.

If you’re interested in these games but don’t read/speak English or Japanese, it’s not an easy situation. Fox has indicated that, for now, there aren’t plans to offer official translations for any other languages. Now we have a bit of insight into what’s happening here.

Fox recently posted about the Japanese release of Off on social media, which brought about “some frustration from Latin American fans” as his games lack localization. In response to that, he put out a statement.

According to fox, the lack of translations for Undertale is due to the fact that he wants an official release to match his vision. Despite looking it into the past with 8-4, “nothing has come of that yet.” For Deltarune, “it’s just not feasible from a development standpoint to support other languages right now, since it would make the game take longer to come out.”

Fox’s full statement reads:

Unfortunately, there are no translations for Undertale into other languages besides Japanese. That includes Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, but also every other language – Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, German, Italian, and more.

I know it sucks that there are no other official translations for Undertale. But I want to make it clear that this isn’t because I have a grudge against other countries. It’s because, if I release something official, I want it to match my vision. I was only able to do this for the Japanese version because I know Japanese myself, and I worked very closely with our brilliant translator to thoroughly check the text. I am not against official translations for other languages if we could make it work the same way… In the past I have looked into various options with my publisher, 8-4, but nothing has come of that yet. Maybe I should try a different approach.

I’m very happy that there are unofficial translations on PC. Considering I don’t understand other languages, letting fans interpret the game without the burden of being “officially” perfect is amazingly helpful.

As for Deltarune, it’s just not feasible from a development standpoint to support other languages right now, since it would make the game take longer to come out…

I’m honored to have many fans across the world, and of course that means Latin America too. I don’t want anyone to feel left out. I’m sorry if my silence made me seem like I was ignoring anyone.

For those that are able to play Undertale and Deltarune, they’re both out now on the Nintendo eShop. If you’re wondering what’s happening with Deltarune Chapter 5, check out this post.