Game localization company Altagram has issued a lengthy apology for failing to credit its translators for their work on Baldur’s Gate 3.
The company was called out earlier this week for omitting some of those who worked on the Brazilian Portuguese localization for Baldur’s Gate 3 from the game’s credits.
It was noted that, despite not crediting the individual translators who worked on the project, Altagram did choose to credit multiple department leads and members of the company’s C-suite, including its CEO, COO, and CCO.
Larian was also taken to task for accepting an incomplete list of credits ahead of launch and laid the blame at Altagram’s door. “This was all Altagram group,” said Larian director of publishing, speaking to Eurogamer. “We reached out and compelled them to fix this.”
In a statement posted on X earlier today, Altagram praised the work ethic of its translators and collaborators (some of whom are freelance workers) and said it takes “full responsibility” for the omissions.
“We are learning from this experience and are reviewing the failures of our internal processes regarding credits. We would like to thank Larian for allowing us to quickly fix that error and update the credits section. The names of the Brazilian Portuguese translators will be included in an upcoming patch to the game,” said the company.
Altagram wants to “lead change” but has struggled to amend its own practices
Altagram described the situation as “unfortunate and frustrating” and claimed that as a leader in the localization space it aspires to be a company that can “lead change across the industry for credits in game.”
“We deeply value the feedback we’ve received from freelancers and others, and we are always committed to doing better,” continues the statement. Altagram added that it will gladly engage with anybody who wants to share feedback and concerns related to how it handles crediting.
Notably, the company followed up that apology with a series of commitments it claims will allow it to avoid repeat situations in the future, including the establishment of internal crediting committees, a flexible adjustment policy that will allow it to more easily edit credits post-launch, and a commitment to adhere to the IGDA guidelines on game crediting–which were updated earlier this year.
Despite those assurances, some have pointed out that Altagram has been here before. Back in June, the company was called out for reportedly failing to credit the German freelance translators it hired to work on Diablo IV.
Responding to that criticism on X, Altagram apologized for the “trouble” and said that “credits can be complex.” The company did also attempt to solicit more feedback so it could “learn more” about the issue, but seemingly struggled to amend its practices before the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Game Developer reached out to Altagram earlier this week to specifically ask why it omitted individual translators despite including the names of key executives in the Baldur’s Gate 3 credits. We’ve yet to hear back.