Amid recent concerns about MAGES.’ increasing experimentation with AI in development, CEO Makoto Asada has shared relevant comments suggesting that the technology is still a ways off from practical applicability in the visual novel localization process.
In a late-October interview with Game*Spark, Asada stated the following:
Interviewer: What are your thoughts on the global expansion of visual novels? I imagine it’s a genre where localization is no easy task.
Asada: It certainly isn’t. The costs incurred [for an overseas release], particularly for the translation process, are massive. Even when the localization is done, there’s an additional need to carefully check that the subtlties of the writing are accurately expressed in the new language. In that regard, AI translation still seems far from practically applicable here.
As an example, character-unique phrasing, as well as the particular spoken mannerisms of the characters of Steins;Gate, are not well expressed by AI. The output seems vaguely like what is expected, but AI cannot reproduce these characters [in another language] with full accuracy. As of now, the field still requires a human approach.
Asada’s position stands in relation to the visual novel genre; notably, his comments don’t constitute a complete rejection of the practice of AI translation by the company. For instance, MAGES. disclosed use of text-generation AI for the translation of June 2026’s Maximum Pile-Up! into ten languages.
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