Eastward German and Spanish Localizations Delayed by COVID-19

Retro-style RPG Eastward has been available for several months, since its release in September 2021. Unfortunately, though, players in Germany and Spain may need to keep waiting for a chance to play the game in their native languages. According to an announcement from publisher Chucklefish, the previously announced German- and Spanish-language localizations are still postponed, due to ongoing lockdowns in developer Pixpil’s home city of Shanghai, China.

Chucklefish shared the announcement about the Eastward localization status in a series of tweets. The information followed a promotion for the game’s physical release on Nintendo Switch.

An important point: As you know, in March we shared news that the upcoming German & EU Spanish localisation update had been delayed due to the Shanghai lockdown: sadly, the Pixpil dev team is still in lockdown with no access to their office, dev kits or servers. (1/3)

— Chucklefish (@ChucklefishLTD) May 24, 2022

According to Chucklefish, the German- and EU Spanish-language localization of Eastward is actually complete. However, as Pixpil staff have continued to remain at home to comply with government-enforced lockdowns meant to control the spread of COVID-19, they have been unable to access their office, servers, and developer kits. Thus, the update to add those languages to digital copies of the game cannot be finalized and deployed. Chucklefish asked for customers’ patience and support, and promised updates about Eastward localization as they became available.

Millions of residents in China’s largest metropolis have endured disruptions to life and business for more than two months, under a wave of government-enforced shutdowns enacted in March 2022, with the intent of halting the spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant. Shanghai is also home to many game studios, including Genshin Impact developer miHoYo, Azur Lane developer Manjuu, Arknights developer Hypergryph, and more. Though not all have officially confirmed if their projects experienced lockdown-related disruption, their presence in the city makes at least some effect safe to assume.

Eastward is available in English, Japanese, Chinese, and French on PC and Nintendo Switch. Check out Siliconera’s official review.