Petition to include German, Spanish, and French dubbing in Kingdom Hearts III

[Aquaberry 759]

We have been recently contacted by our friends Jorge and Matthias from Disney Central regarding a petition to bring German, Spanish, and French dubbing in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III. While this petition has existed for quite some time, Disney Central aim to close this by the end of 2017 (prior to the release of the game in 2018), and send the fans' signatures and comments to Square Enix Europe for consideration.

 

You can read the petition letter below:

 

Spoiler

Ladies and gentlemen from Square Enix,

ladies and gentlemen from the Walt Disney Company,

 

As loyal fans of your video game series “KINGDOM HEARTS”, we would like to point out that, according to our opinion, the series could potentially lose much of its quality in matters of localization and the dubbing of each title respectively.

 

You know as well as we do that the games are well known for their fun factor and story and that these criteria are being referenced when it comes to comparison with other RPG games. After all, they are what many RPG games from Square Enix are all about. There is, however, a difference between a FINAL FANTASY and a KINGDOM HEARTS game: the many Disney characters that starred in KINGDOM HEARTS I and II along with their well-known and much beloved voices made for an outstanding localized game on the videogame market. Not only were the speakers very fitting (which is not always given in other companies’ games), the majority of them were also the original speakers or at least equally good replacements. Thus, the feeling of experiencing a Walt Disney masterpiece has been passed on to these two games. Fans from Germany, France and Spain were able to experience this exact phenomenon.

 

But that’s not all. If you ask the fans, it is clear to see that a localized dubbing is always the better choice. Even most of the fans who would usually prefer the original Japanese dubbing in games such as FINAL FANTASY said the same thing. The KINGDOM HEARTS series really is a class of its own. Due to the familiar appearance and voice of these many starring characters, the gamers and fans have become emotionally attached to them. Take one of these elements away and the character is no longer the same that we know and love.

 

The same applies to the English version. Any other dubbing than the one in the own language takes away this magical feeling. When we learned that KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5 ReMIX was to be launched exclusively with English dubbing, storms of protest and complaints came up from which arose the idea of this petition and this letter.

 

We, the petitioners, hereby officially ask of you to publish any upcoming game from the KINGDOM HEARTS series with an adapted localization and dubbing. This also includes the already announced KINGDOM HEARTS III as well any future title including spin-offs.

 

Furthermore, we request that if you publish games that already have a localized dubbing, to release them with their respectively dubbed version. The fact that games which contribute much to the story, “Birth by Sleep” for instance, do not have a localized dubbing at all is most regrettable. In the case of HD 1.5 ReMIX, we would like you to at least provide us with the existing localized dubbing via DLC. That also applies to the upcoming KINGDOM HEARTS II and the HD 2.5 ReMIX respectively.

 

With this petition, we would also like to remind you of 2013’s first half-year. Back then, over 3200 fans signed a petition to have Disney re-release one of its animated movies “Arielle die Meerjungfrau” (The Little Mermaid) with the German original dubbing from 1989 (there is a second version from 1998). Disney agreed to this for their fans’ sake. We appeal to you to let us hear these familiar and beloved voices in KINGDOM HEARTS again – be it newly released or older re-released games.

 

A shining example for this is Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Liberation” which was published with English dubbing for the PS Vita in Germany in October 2012. In January 2014, this game was re-released as a HD-remake for the PC and this reason alone led the publisher to add a German dubbing to the game. We would like this procedure to be transferred to KINGDOM HEARTS as well as a subsequent adaptation of the HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX.

 

Yours faithfully

 

The Petitioners

 

P.S.: please pay attention to the countless comments of the petitioners attached to this letter.

We at KH13.com believe this is a fantastic cause, especially for bringing together fans of different backgrounds in the Kingdom Hearts community! We are committed to promote this petition, and urge all our fans to sign it!

 

You can sign the petition here. It only takes 30 seconds!

 

Disney Central have already been receiving statements from the Square Enix team in Germany, indicating interest in the petition.

 

The following is the initial response from Square Enix:

 

Unfortunately, we can’t make this decision alone and are bound to coordinate with other territories and economic parameters. […] We will also try to realize all our customers’ wishes and requests for Kingdom Hearts III, including a German dubbing. Of course, I can’t make any promises right now as it is still too early. But I think that things aren’t looking too bad.

 

(2013)

Another response followed after a year of campaigning for the cause:

 

As for the petition, we hesitate to forward information of this type to our team in Japan, of course. KINGDOM HEARTS 2.5 appears, as you know, without German language edition. But that does not mean that it is managed for future titles. We are eager to pass on the feedback from the community directly, so it is not unheard of.

 

(2014)

As you may already know, Square Enix have been conducting online surveys and questionnaires asking for fan feedback, including regarding Kingdom Hearts. Disney Central and the European fan community have been voicing the need for dubbing in their respective languages through these surveys as well.

 

We believe it's high time the English-speaking Kingdom Hearts community joins as well!

 

Visit the petition website here.

Visit the petition Facebook page here.

 

Click here to view the article

[Felixx 6,646]

Signed it! Even though I would never listen to the German dub after getting used to the English one it’d be realy cool for all those who can’t speak English

[Komali 594]

Signed it! Even though I would never listen to the German dub after getting used to the English one it’d be realy cool for all those who can’t speak English

 

After the loss of Xehanorts voice and the strange voice of Sora in recent KH titles, I won't mind playing it in german.

 

However, Axels german voice will be missed.

[Awesome Sauce 634]

If it includes Latin Spanish then I’m in.

[-Justin- 2,111]

I signed it! I don’t speak any of these languages, but I do hope the petition will work!

[Felixx 6,646]

After the loss of Xehanorts voice and the strange voice of Sora in recent KH titles, I won't mind playing it in german.

 

However, Axels german voice will be missed.

Well it’s been over 10 years since KH2, who knows how Sora’s German voice sounds like now Have to admit though that the German dub was pretty good, they did a great job.

 

And yeah I know

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Ooh, this is interesting, Aquaberry! Thanks for showing this to us!

 

It'd be pretty awesome if Kingdom Hearts III and other KH games had different dubs, so that people of different nationalities can be able to enjoy the KH games in their native language! I think it's an awesome cause!

[KH4Real 749]

Chance is small the game need to be released on time.

It better be on the same time as NA or worldwide.

[KairiKeybasH 851]

If it includes Latin Spanish then I’m in.

Same here, I just want to hear my favorite characters speaking in my Native Language.

[Merilly 438]

I wouldn't mind signing it if there's the option to switch between languages.

The German dub, and what I've heard of the others, are in no way inferior to the English one, with a few voices in each version being a little better or worse than the other.

However, I've gotten so used to the English dub that I don't want to switch now, especially since they probably have to cast new VAs for characters which already had one due to various reasons like unfortunately passing away, unavailability, etc. And there's also the tons of new characters which do not have a VA yet.

 

I agree that Sora's voice has sounded a bit strained in the most recent games, but I can't help but think that he might be able to sound more grown up in KH3 and I'm not sure if his voice was not edited in any way.

 

Back to the petition: I simply don't want to import KH3 from England and wait for it for another week just to hear the English dub. As I said, the German dub was never inferior in any way but it's simply a matter of getting used to it ever since BBS came out in Germany, which was a long time ago.

And unfortunately, they never even gave us the possibility to switch to full English, not even for something like subtitles.

 

And just because it was great back then doesn't mean it will now. There are examples of both good and bad dubs in recent days.

If there was a choice to choose the language, I'd sign it any day because then I would be able to switch to my heart's content and decide which version suits my taste more without buying two copies.

That really shouldn't be that big of a deal to at least include two language options, right?

 

I've often read about accessibility though in some comment sections, which I don't know whether it's that important for the third installment of a game that had English dubs ever since Days came out. (Re:CoM wasn't regularly available in Germany after all.)

People who get into the series now will have played all the games in English most likely, so it's not a turn-off to have KH3 in English either. Those who only buy KH3 will have more problems than the dub. And those who simply buy it for their kids or to slash away at things won't care either way.

 

For regular titles, I'd definitely also say that accessibility is a serious matter, but I simply can't imagine that fans would suddenly not buy KH3 because it's not in their native language. It's not a game people play without having seen the other entries of the series, and just having played KH1, KH2 and CoM won't be sufficient either. With the games being published solely in English from a certain point onward, switching back and forth is almost tedious for me. With the remixes and 2.8, everything had an English dub and I'm okay with that.

 

Which doesn't mean I won't support other language dubs if people can at least choose between their native language and English. That freedom should be possible with today's technology (heck, it was possible for really old games, too).

 

I definitely think this petition is a good thing but since KH has never given language options as far as I know, I'm afraid signing a petition for a German dub would make the English one unavailable on the German discs of the game.

I'm not an English fanatic by all means but it's simple a matter of getting used to all the voices for over 7 years now.

[Dustin Lübbers 933]

Signed it! Even though I would never listen to the German dub after getting used to the English one it’d be realy cool for all those who can’t speak English

thank you very much this is helping me atleast

 

while I do think the english version is a little bit better than the German I would still pay extra money to have a Dub because KH is a cornerstone of my childhood and to see soras story end the way it started for me would be a nostalgic Dream come true, it would just be the the icing on the cake.

 

Also I would have another good excuse to play it twice once in german once in English, in english for my youtube videos the german for me in private:P

 

Hope they listen to this Petition and also make a language DLC for the other games/movies aswell

[morsa96 0]

I want kh3 dubbed in italiano too. What discrimination ahah

[Felixx 6,646]

I definitely think this petition is a good thing but since KH has never given language options as far as I know, I'm afraid signing a petition for a German dub would make the English one unavailable on the German discs of the game.

I'm not an English fanatic by all means but it's simple a matter of getting used to all the voices for over 7 years now.

I don’t think that’s a thing anymore. In the past years I haven’t got a single game that forces you to use the German dub, there was always the option to switch the language. So if they really were to add German dub to KH3 I’m sure they will make it optional. If I remember correctly you could even change the sub language for 2.8? Not totally sure but I don’t think I have used a German sub.

[ViRoxLover 31]

If it includes Latin Spanish then I’m in.

If it includes Brazilian Portuguese,I'm in.

[Rob 5,571]

Now Rob wonders which will happen first. This or Japanese audio in the overseas version.

[Ziyi Chaban 0]

I hope that kh3 comes dubbed into Spanish from Spain, since one of the things that I liked about kh2 is that it was doubled in my language, it was one of the best dubbing seen in ps2, it's a pity that in kh 2.5 it was lost dubbing