So, after nearly a dozen years and nineteen Pokemon games later, I am out.
I was told that my services were no longer needed because translation work will be handled internally hereafter. They assured me it's not a quality issue, but because of some bureaucratic thing.
OK, cool, whatever. As a career-long-and-not-about-to-change freelancer, I always expected this day to come, but not for this reason. But such is life.
I'll always be grateful for the incredible opportunity the franchise gave me. I mean, sheesh, as the sole translator on those games, my words went out to tens of millions of people, perhaps even more, since all the Euro translations were based on the localized-by-me English text. Tens of millions? Maybe in the hundreds of millions? That's mindboggling for an average shmoe of an immigrant kid who grew up in a Canadian suburb.
It amazes me how many people its reached and how deep it has penetrated into the sociocultural fabric of... OK, enough of that grad paper horseshit. Still, whenever I see some little kid playing a Pokemon... gently caress, yeah, I still get a surge of pride.
I hope people enjoyed what I did. Or at least didn't find it all that insufferable. As corny as it sounds, I really did pour all my love in to those games. If it helped brighten up some kid's day, then yeah, go me.
It was one gently caress of a great ride while it lasted. Thank you for being there and sharing it with me. Though, being here, I felt like a fraud since y'all's knowledge run far, far deeper than mine. You deserve better than me.
So here's to continued and greater success of the franchise in the decades to come.
I remain a fan of Pokemon.
Nob Ogasawara
