Dungeons & Dragons Discontinues Portuguese Translations

Wizards of the Coast has announced they will stop translating Dungeons & Dragons books into Portuguese, less than 2 years after launching its Portuguese language line. Late last night, Wizards of the Coast announced that they planned to discontinue Portuguese translations of Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks after releasing three books originally published in English in 2022. In a statement published to D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast blamed “rising costs and shifts in global demand” for the decision, stating that Portuguese-language D&D books had not kept pace with “rising costs across the board.” Wizards said they still planned to publish D&D books in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, although not every book would be released in every language. 

The move comes less than three years after Wizards of the Coast seized control of its foreign language publications after a brief lawsuit and eventual settlement with former license holder Gale Force Nine. After it had taken control, former executive producer Ray Winninger touted the move as a way to expand Dungeons & Dragons’ reach and build a “global community” of D&D fans. Winninger noted in a blog post posted to D&D’s webpage that Wizards had made a “long-term commitment” to the publication of these books, stating that they were hiring dedicated teams to work on these projects, and make reviews and updates to localized content. 

In 2022, Wizards announced that they were adding Portuguese-language D&D books to its foreign language lines, focusing on the Brazilian Portuguese dialect. “This announcement is extremely important for the Brazilian D&D community, which has been following Dungeons & Dragons for decades,” said Reynaldo Barbella, then head of LATAM for Wizards of the Coast. “D&D fans in Brazil can be sure that we will be listening to them, providing all the necessary support, and working to offer new localized content. In addition to the core rulebooks, we will launch new and localized products throughout the second half of 2022.”

However, less than a year after this announcement, Hasbro laid off several Wizards of the Coast staff members in Brazil and Mexico, including its community managers hired to grow the D&D community. Other staffers were reassigned or given new roles, such as Barbella, who now is listed as a senior e-commerce manager with no direct mention of RPGs in his job description on LinkedIn. 

The Brazilian Portuguese RPG community is a growing one, despite lengthy delays in receiving official material. For reference, an official Portuguese version of the D&D Player’s Handbook for Fifth Edition was only released in 2019, five years after the release of 5th Edition in English. Portuguese-speaking players have often had to resort to either fan translations or piracy to obtain official releases. 

Reaction to the announcement has largely been met with criticism and scorn among Portuguese-speaking players, with several commenting to ComicBook.com that they felt Wizards had “abandoned” the Brazilian and wider Latin American community with the move. Others have commented on Reddit and elsewhere that the Portuguese tabletop RPG community was a niche one and that most players could use the English language books and content reasonably well. The timing of the move comes less than 2 months after Hasbro laid off numerous staffers, including some at Wizards of the Coast, in a preemptive response to weak 2023 revenue.